Great Day, Great Run

Headed over to Bradbury early Saturday, expecting to see a big group of Trail Monsters. I was only in the lot for a few minutes when Bethany pulled in. She decided to head out instead of waiting for the group to amass; she figured she'd see everyone on the trail. Randy drove in just a few minutes later. We caught up a bit on our summers and wondered how long to wait before deciding we were it. At 8:10, Randy said he'd like to get going. OK, just a quick trip to the outhouse for me...Good thing ,too, cause when I came out, James was driving in!

The three of us headed out at a pace that I'm sure was very moderate for them. It was at, or faster than, what I would consider my race pace. James asked if he should slow down. Nope. I was even able to keep my end of the conversation up (thanks, Dad; us Beckwith's can talk no matter what!). About 1.5 miles in I told them to pick it up if they wanted cause I was going to drop back. They did.

Still kept up a fairly fast pace. I like how just a little fast running makes you faster. I notice the week after a race, even when I'm trying to run slowly, my pace is always quicker. I ran small stretches of the Summit and pushed on the Tote Road. When I got done with the Switch Back (which I ran like it goes on race day, right into the starting field), my time was slightly better than 1/2 of last year's Breaker, 48:15!

I went back to the car to refill my one 8 oz bottle with Gatorade and found James and Randy there talking. Both of them were calling it a day. I hung out and talked for 12 minutes, so pretty much recovered before heading on the second lap. Even going easy, I did the last lap in under 53 minutes!

This time when I finished, I found Ian in the parking lot getting ready for trail maintenance. He had all the tools (rakes and clippers). We headed to the Switch Back (definitely the least followable of the trails). Starting at its finish, we worked our way up the mountain, basically raking the entire path. Bethany joined us after her Breaker run. She took over any clipping duties. From the top, it was neat to look down and be able to follow the trail all the way down. Good job, us!

It was cool going up the mountain. I recommend walking back up. It's really quite beautiful. I can't believe how many times I've been on that trail and not known what was there!

From the Switch Back, we head over to South Ridge. It needed less work. The only place where it wasn't obvious where to run was from the lower parking lot up to the playground before the Summit. It's clear now! My hands now sport four new blisters/callouses. It was work, but a lot of fun with Ian and Beth. Oh, yeah...The day couldn't be better for running or working on the trail; the humidity was low and the high of the day was 75!