First Full Green Lane Loop

I wanted a decent run today, especially since I wasn't working.  I wanted miles, but nothing too challenging.  I decided to drive down to the Green Lane Reservoir.  I ran about 7 or 8 miles there in the summer.  It was fun.

The weather was interesting.  It was supposed to be cold and was at times, but with the sun out, it wasn't too bad.  I wore shorts and a long sleeve shirt.  I needed gloves when the sun became hidden late in the run.  I was glad that I put them in my UD Vest.

I parked in the middle of the Red Trail.  I had run to this part last time.  It starts with a kind of boring field trail along the water.  The scenery is nice, but the trail was boring.  At least it was easy.  The ground made it a little interesting though as it was frozen and sloppy at first.  It got much better.

I continued on the boring trail.  I think this is made for horses.  At one point, it turned to a stone trail.  Again, I wasn't enjoying it.  At least I knew that the miles were clicking off faster there.

After crossing the road twice, I got to a parking area and grabbed a map.  I continued on the Red Trail.  Finally, it turned into a fun singletrack.  I was thrilled, even if it didn't last long.

A short while later, I was on the Connector Trail.  It was a boring stone trail again at first and then paved near the end.  Again, at least I could run this quick.  I cruised downhill and could see the waterfall from the dam to my right.

It then connected with the Perkiomen Trail.  There was a guy that looked homeless and he was drinking a beer on a bridge.  He had a six pack with him too.  That was interesting.

I thought the Perkiomen Trail would be paved.  Instead, it was woods road and then stone.  I came out to a park after a bit.  I wasn't quite sure where the trail went, but I had to use the bathroom anyway, so I went there.  I then found the trail, after looking at a map.

The trail went along the road for a bit.  Then, I saw the connection to the Blue Trail.  I ran a lot of this before and it had miles of singletrack.  I was really looking forward to it.  I came through an hour with about 6.25 miles. 

The Blue Trail was a wide trail at first.  It sucked too because it was uphill.  I decided to just walk it.  It also allowed me time to take out some pretzels and eat them.  I had nothing for lunch.  Two horses came by the other way.  They were trotting along.

At the top, the Blue Trail crossed a road.  It then turned into a fun singletrack.  It went downhill and then followed that up with a fairly steep uphill.  I continued along.  The only times I was stopping, other than to eat, was to take photos.  I was moving along.

It was nice to get to the road into the park.  I crossed that and was now to the part of the Blue Trail that I had run before.  This part was a lot of fun.  It was singletrack along the ridge, near the water.  The views were nice.  The trail seemed less technical that I recalled in the summer.

There were signs up to tell me the trail was difficult.  It wasn't though.  It was merely short, steep downhills and uphills.  Nothing I can't handle without any issues.  It did this a few times.

I really enjoyed this Blue Trail.  I hit miles 9 and 10.  My back was getting a little sore and I was sweaty, but overall, not too bad.  I battled on.

Eventually, I finished the Blue Trail.  That was right before mile 11.  Now, I had the Red Trail to take back to the car.  This wasn't fun, as it was paved.  At least it was fast.  It was neat that I was running on a bridge over the water.  My car came up sooner than expected.  I was at 11.8 miles when I got there. 

I ran out a bit in the sloppy and icy mud.  I got to mile 12 and stopped.  I thought about adding some of the small trails across the way, but they went uphill.  I had no desire to do that.  Although I was hoping this trail would be closer to 15 miles, I was happy with a 12 mile day.

I will run here again at some point.  It is a good mix of different terrain and very runnable.  Some of it is boring though, but that does mentally challenge me.  Even though the singletrack pace was slower, it was fun and seemed faster.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping for a decent run again.  Some friends are running the Peepsfest 5K in the afternoon.  I'll go to watch that.  It should be fun.  That gives me a tight window to run though.  Maybe I'll go over to Trexler afterward.

12 miles - 2:00:40 (10:04 pace) 1056 feet of elevation gain