Bradbury Long

It was perfect weather for Saturday's long run at Bradbury. I was happy to have some very good company to start. Lily, Jeremy and Andy were only with us for a short time before speeding off. Mindy and I lead the others (cause we knew the way) over the Scuffle course. It was good to catch up with Mindy!

On the Snowmobile trail (where the Bruiser crosses), we ran into the faster runners again. Turns out they'd just run randomly since none of them knew any real course. Mindy, Scarborough Kate, Andy, and two people I didn't get the names of called it good after the Scuffle. Lily and Echo, Jeremy, Nate and I went back out for more. They didn't care where we went so I led them out onto the Bruiser planning to skip the Island Loop and the O. At the top of the Snowmobile trail, everyone else peeled off to head back. It was nice having company for the first 8+ of my planned 18 miles.

When I finished the non-twisty Bruiser, the Garmin showed I'd gone just over 14.5 miles. I replenished my Fuel Belt and decided to stay on the mountain side for the rest of my miles. The other side might be flatter, but the trails were getting harder to follow as more leaves fell. I didn't want to have to pay that much attention.

My IT band had been getting tight during the week with me running lots of my mileage in the fields. I was happy that it seemed to behave and even improve at the start of the run. Somewhere around 10 miles, my sore left foot/ankle said that, even with skipping the twisty part of the Bruiser, the east side had too many left turns for it. Around 16 miles, my IT band felt like it wanted some attention, too.

I ran up the Boundary right to the Summit then to the Tote and finally back down the Northern Loop Trail. Even though my pieces were hurting, I was very happy with how I felt at the end of the 18.25 mile run. I still had lots of energy and am pretty sure I had at least a marathon in me already!