Hill Week 2014: Jacobsburg

This evening was the 6th of 7 runs in Hill Week 2014.  This was the one closest to me at Jacobsburg State Park.  It is also by far the easiest trail run.  It's still fun though.

We had another solid turnout of 7 people.  Most of them were BCR folks.  I was glad that the group wasn't too big, because this can be an easy place to get lost at.

We did my normal loop here.  It starts with the nice section along the creek.  I had to get my camera in the car, so I had to run back to get it and catch up.  I figured the group wouldn't be too far ahead.  I was moving pretty good to catch back up.

I did that and we all stopped at the first turn.  This would've been a place for people to get lost easily.  It was good to keep everyone together.

We then started going uphill.  A mountain biker passed us and I had a rare deer sighting.  I've run probably over 1,000 miles at this place and I've only seen like 2 deer ever.  This one ran across the trail.

Since we were all sort of together, I didn't stop much in this area after the road crossing.  All the trails kind of merge anyway.  Angie wasn't far behind and most of the rest of the group stayed together.  Gary dropped back and ran with Susan. 

The weather was nice, but of course I was still sweating by this point.  Any humidity at all destroys me and I have some chafing issues.  I guess I'll have to start running shirtless most of the time now.

There was a fun singletrack section and I flew through it.  They opened up a section that was closed last time I came through it.  I was disappointed though because they just widened the trail.  It used to be a fun and challenging downhill singletrack.  Now, it is a wide, smooth and boring downhill, like a lot of the rest of this place.

After that section, we stopped and waited again.  I wanted to make sure that everyone knew to take a right over the bridge and onto the next singletrack section.  This part is fun and has some climbing.  I had to stop at one point and make sure everyone made the correct turn to get over the roads.  I told David to go ahead and Angie did too.

Eventually, I caught back up with them and went by both of them to lead again.  This section was very muddy, as it almost always is.  There was another intersection after all the roads and I made sure to stop there too.

We waited for everyone but Gary and Susan.  Gary knew the route, so I wasn't worried about them.  Everyone else was running relatively close.  I ran ahead again.

We got to the flat and wide part and I ran with Angie.  It was good to chat and catchup.  Then, it was the one tough climb of the run.  The run up the powerline.  I ran up that and Angie dropped back and then walked some of it too.  I was excited to see another deer at the top of the trail.  That is rare.

At the top, I stopped again for everyone to catch back up to us.  Angie and I ran downhill together again.  This section is so wide open, so it is easy to chat.  I was concerned that I didn't see the others behind us, but then I finally did and they made the correct turn.

We got to the road and I wanted to make sure that everyone was together again.  I joked to Angie that we were on her terrain (the road) and she should be flying now.  She did pick it up then. 

We were then back onto the trail a short time later.  There was less than half a mile to go.  Since it was a straight shot back and everyone seemed to know the route, I decided to really push it.  I was flying over the short hills and the singletrack.  I finished pretty far ahead of everyone and the final mile was 7:27.

It was another nice turnout and a fun time.  I've enjoyed meeting new people and introducing them to new trails too.  I definitely want to do this again.  Tomorrow, might be the best run of them all.  It is at Trexler in the morning.  That is my favorite place to run in the LV and many others share those same feelings.

6 miles - 53:05 (8:51 pace)