Just for Me

I had a double treat today; I got to share Ian's Bradbury miles and I got my new Inov8 295s.  I have such fussy toes that I was worried about buying them.  I put them on.  At first I was worried about so much lacing crossing my foot.  All my worries melted away with each step we ran.  They were better than my other Inov8s!  Since I've started wearing Inovs, I've had three pairs, all the Rocite 282s.  Those three have handled the vast majority of my miles over three years, combining for over 4000 miles.  As far as fit and comfort, these have it over the others.  I felt like they were made for me.  I don't care if they can't handle as many miles; they feel so good!

Ian and I made sure were broke them in well.  Actually, it was more the Brad that made sure they were christened properly.  We were treated to great puddles and sloppy mud.  We ran out the start of the Scuffle, but turned off Ginn East where a short little trail connects the Snowmobile Trail just below the turn off spot to Ginn West on the Bruiser.  We followed the Bruiser course till Fox West pops back on to the Snowmobile trail; from there we took one of the little single tracks we virtually ignore, since it's not on any of the three races.  It was longer than either Ian and I expected, though we both knew it popped back out onto Knights Woods near the start of the O.  It was fun, twisty trail with some of the cushy feel of new trail still left.

That gave Ian just over the five miles he was looking for.  We talked for a bit back at the cars, but then I went back onto the mountain side for a couple more miles.  From the Boundary, I took the trail that connects from the corner, where the park neighbor has put up the electric fence, back to the the Tote Road.  I've only run that trail once and remembered it had two trails off of it I meant to check out some time.  Ian's little foray onto new trails during our run put me in the exploring mood.  The first right was a fairly wide looking path that took me to the hard right that you make on the Boundary during the breaker.  OK, but boring.  I retraced my steps back.  The second right held more promise; it was just a thin single track.  I tried to figure out where I was going to pop out, but had to keep changing my prediction because it just seemed to keep going.  Finally, it ended up back on the Boundary, but well after the climb up from the back.  It's right near a short, steep ledge that a lot of people go wide on.  Shortly after that, I took another little detour, but it really was just a short loop back.  From there I ran straight to the summit and down the switchback.  I think my Garmin read 7.96 when I got back to my car.  A fun day at the Brad.