The weather was much nicer than lately. It was much less humid. However, I still struggled with it. I was breathing heavy, even early on.
Ryan and I have been arguing about my summertime struggles. I tried to explain how poorly I handle the heat. He keeps trying to insist I need to slow the pace. I tell him pace doesn't matter, I just can't deal with hot conditions. So, I let him set the pace and lead the way. He's never been there, so I had to direct him on the turns.The one nice thing about this run is it starts downhill. Ryan cruised on this, already a faster pace that I would've run it. I always take my time, but he doesn't believe me.
Before long, we were to the first road crossing. Then, it was some fun singletrack and the first climb. Sure enough, Ryan steadily picked his way up this moderate. I didn't get far and my breathing was labored and I was already struggling. I was forced to hike. It should be an easy effort, but as usual, it wasn't for me.
Even hiking, I can't breath well. I ran a little more when it flattened out. Then, it was on to the next hill. Again, he ran an easy effort and pace and I had to hike.
I was glad when we got to the downhill part. I know I can run downhills okay. I recovered somewhat and cruised along. We ran past the disc golf course. Then we crossed the road.
I noticed that even though I had run downhill, I was getting a bit worn out. Luckily, most of this next technical section was downhill, so I could keep up with Ryan pretty well.
We decided after the small bridge to go across from it. I don't run this part much and I'm glad I don't. It winds in and out. It went on and on and on. I was wondering if we'd ever loop out of there, but I was sure. There was some uphill here and I had to hike more.
When we finally turned an headed back, I realized we were practically doing an out and back. I got very frustrated, as we were so far out. I had to hike more, as Ryan got ahead again.
I ran a little more when we went downhill. I was so thrilled when we finally got out of that section. I may not run there again for awhile. Since Ryan was crashing a little himself too, we stuck with the normal loop.
On the way to the overlook, there was a deer right next to the road. It just stood there and ate grass and stared at me. I'm not sure I've ever been that close to one and not had it run away. It didn't seem to care. We enjoyed the overlook briefly after that.Then it was on to more uphill. Again, I struggled quite a bit with this. It was a lot of hiking and some running. Ryan was ahead as usual. We got out to the road and were nearly done.
I even had to hiked the paved steps uphill. This is a course I never even have to think about hiking in good weather. My legs felt so fresh at this easy effort. I just couldn't run much of the hills. At least we were done and Ryan was able to see my struggles.
Tomorrow, I'm hoping to run again. I might go to the Wind Gap Bluegrass Festival. If I do, I may run the Katellen Trail beforehand. A few repeats would be nice. However, it will be super hot and humid. We'll see what I can do.
6.34 miles - 1:15:39 (11:56 pace) 782 feet of elevation gain
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