It was supposed to snow today. Yes, snow in April. How crazy is that? Since I thought it would be cold and snowy, I wore tights. I also had on a light weight long sleeve shirt and my shell. It surprisingly felt nice at the start. I ended up being overdressed.
I ran along behind Kate, Kristin and Tommy. Tommy is really fast. He ran in college. Kristin ended up waiting for Kate and the others. Tommy and I kept going. I'm used to running alone, so company was certainly nice.This was quite the distraction, as I was chatting away not even paying too much attention to the fact that I was running the whole time. We ran up the long hill. Of course I can still do that, but on my own, that seems to take some effort.
Tommy and I talked about a bunch of things, such as racing and camping. He's running Hyner and then Worlds End. I might take the whole year off, but I do have some experience. I saw a fox run in front of us in the open field. That was cool, as those sightings are rare.
We were cruising along. I felt bad because I was holding him back. I'm just nowhere near as fast as I was a couple years ago though. We were surprised to see another fox at the open view part.
As we were heading toward the hills, I became a bit startled. Someone came flying up behind me. I thought we lost everyone. It turns out it was Kristin running strong. Of course, that should be no surprise.
Her and Tommy pulled ahead as we got to the biggest hills. I couldn't keep up and didn't want to try. I came to the realization that I was overdressed and overheating. I had to get under control a bit more.
I made the turn to do the 11 mile loop. I knew they couldn't be too far ahead and I couldn't see them, so I figured they just did the Border Trail. There some uphill here and a lot of trees have been cleared now. It's quite weird.
I saw no one behind me and realized I was probably the only one on this loop. For some reason, I thought they were planning to run this longer loop. I'm not sure where I got that idea from. Since I was stuck running on my own and needed miles anyway, this was fine.
I ended up missing the turn for the Broken Arrow Trail. I saw another fox. I was kind of close to another sighting, so it could've been that one, but I doubt it. I couldn't believe there might be several foxes visible.
I went down the Broken Arrow Trail. This switchback seemed neverending. At least it was downhill. I was happy to finally be done with it and on to the Blue Trail.
Now, it was more hiking and climbing. I realized I was only at 1,000 feet of gain, with another 1,000 feet to go. I sure was suffering too. A woman was running down as I was going up. A man was following her with a dog.
I made my way up the climb. I saw two hikers coming down. It was good to get to the top of the Blue Trail and cruise on downhill. Thankfully, it was runnable for a bit after that too.
I finally linked back up with the Border Trail. I kept trying to figure out the mileage left. Of course that made no difference, as I knew the correct route anyway.
Although I had no water and calories, my crash wasn't getting any worse. I could still run solid on the downhills and flats. If it was really hot out, this would've been very ugly.
I cruised along, looking forward to the last climb. I made it up that. Then, I had some flat and rolling stuff back to the last road crossing. I couldn't quite run all of it, but I did well.
It was good to be within sight of the Environmental Center. I hiked most of the rest of the time. I ran into the parking lot to finish. I thought maybe I'd catch some of the slower 9 mile people, but I didn't. All their cars were gone. They checked on me with texts, which I didn't see until later.
This was a crash, but far from my worst crash here. I was glad to get some decent hills in and a solid 11 miles too. It has been awhile for me being here. It was also good to run with people, even if it was only the beginning of the run.
I'm having stomach issues at the moment and feel like crap. The leg actually feels great now. I probably could run again tomorrow, but I won't likely chance it. I think I'll run again on Monday. I have no idea where at.
11.17 miles - 2:08:21 (11:29 pace) 1489 feet of elevation gain
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