I took off yesterday, which was perfect, since it was icy. I had to get back at it today. I didn't actually get out during the day, so I headed there after dark.
I decided to run at South Mountain (Lehigh). With snow on the ground, I thought I'd just do some climbing repeats. However, it didn't quite work out as planned. It was still a fun night trail run though.
It was in the 20s when I started. It was windy at the top, but warm down below. I wore tights, a fleece vest and lightweight long sleeve shirt. I had gloves, but they were off early. I kept my headband on.
I started off from the top of the mountain. It was fun going downhill. It wasn't as steep or as tough as I thought it would be. I was careful, but able to run it. There were a few footprints and a lot of deer prints. It was tough to tell which were which at times.
Running over the mountain bike trails was tough. They have a bunch of small bumps to go over. They were all snow covered, so it was tough to tell how deep the snow was there. I had to be careful, but I had no issues.
The trails are fun as they do curve all over the place. I felt almost like I was switchbacking at times. At one point, the trail seemed to disappear. I bushwhacked a bit to get back on it. Then, I somehow missed the turn to go back up. The mountain bikers also put a fake skull and spine there, hanging from a tree. It's probably funny in the daylight, but less so at night.
I continued on and actually came out at the very bottom. That was cool because I've always seen the little parking lot there and I've used it to run up the road. I never knew how to get there from the top on the trails though.
I tried to head back up. Again, I had no luck finding the trail straight up. I ended up in the same area yet again. I was near a powerline cut that I knew at one point. There was a big log and some animals prints. I decided to climb the log. What I didn't realize is that there were many giant logs and branches. I was amazed that I made it over them without falling or hurting myself in some way.
I then ran up the powerline cut. This was a fun little climb. I knew the trail was somewhere near the top. They are doing a lot of construction in the area. I ran on a new powerline road for some time. I was just wrapping around the mountain. I was hoping to find the trail and climb up the other side. Eventually, I just turned around.
I couldn't figure out how to continue up the powerline. Finally, I followed some footprints up the steep grade. It was too steep and snow covered to run, so I hiked. Eventually, I came to a road part I knew. The trail passed through there.
I ran back toward the mountain top. There were a few tracks, but not much. The snow is actually soft and has a lot of grip. However, it is still hard to run uphill when it hasn't been well traveled on.
Eventually, I came to the last steep climbing part. I was over 4 miles now and over 700 feet of elevation gain. I ran some of the last uphill, but had to hike quite a bit too. I got back to my car with over 4.5 miles and 800 feet of gain.
This run wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but it was fun. It was still a fairly productive evening. I at least had a decent workout and it was a nice night out.
Since the snow seems more runnable now than it was last week (better grip), I'm really looking forward to running the rest of the week. I'll have to go to some well traveled areas or else do repeats. I'd love to get to the Delaware Water Gap again. I'll probably go to Lehigh Gap at some point too.
4.66 miles - 1:06:07 (14:12 pace) 844 feet of elevation gain
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