Mountain Miles

Rick and I met up with Ian, Nate A, Scott (?), NJ Dave, and a woman (didn't get her name - not sure if I should already know) on Saturday.  It was an easy decision to run on the mountain side, the east side was overrun with the mountain bikers doing the 12 hour race.  We were lucky to find spots in the lower parking; many, many, many cars were already parking on the road leading to the park.  The big field was filled with tents. The air was filled with smoke from all the campfires.

Rick was going to do a loop on the mountain to get some hill repeats in.  I asked if anyone was running long (I wanted to do 3.5 hours...if I was running on the east side, I would have said I wanted to do 18 miles).  Ian, in his taper, just was doing five.  NJ Dave was going eight.  I wanted to go out the connector.  Ian said he'd go that way, but instead of just going out the Boundary to get there, how about running the Terrace to blah, blah, blah.  Yeah, he actually said trail names, but I didn't pay attention since I'd just follow along.  Well, since I didn't stop in at the outhouse before we started, I soon had to drop off the back to pee.  I should have paid attention to the blah, blah, blah; I never saw them again till they were headed back on the connector, right where I call it the cobblestone hill.  Oh well, I'd only have had company for just a couple of miles anyway.

The connector trail was wet, but my new shoes made the rocks less slippery.  I felt a new confidence growing on the downs.  The river was low enough again that I could cross without getting wet.  Normally I don't like running along the power lines, so just turn around then.  I think that's just cause I only had run it in the summer when you are then just out in the full sun.  It was beautiful on Saturday.  The sun felt good.  I ran till Elmwood Rd.  Well, I did cross the road, but then looked at the up and decided it was time to head back; I'd be out of drinks by then.

I'm glad I made that decision.  Just a couple miles on my way back, my feet started getting quite grumpy.  In the couple days I'd had them, I had put about 16 miles on them.  The same thing that made them feel so good fit-wise, so good on the slippery rocks,  and so good molding to the trail was making my feet unhappy now.  They are just that much more flexible and I think my feet need to work up to that much flexing.  I was very happy that I'd brought my old pair.  They felt fine when I put them on back at the car.  Ahhh.  Of course, I went back to being much more deliberate on the downs.

I'd seen Rick on my way to the car.  He was done with his 9+ miles and headed over to check out the mountainbike race.  A friend of his from work was working the timing.  I had a Coke, replaced my empty Fuelbelt bottles with full ones, and went back out the connector.  I wondered around on some single track out there and got to a bridge that I once ran with Ian and Danielle.  Exploring helped make the time fly by.

My phone rang.  It was Mindy saying she'd be in the park in about 20 minutes.  I said that was probably when I'd be back at the car, perfect timing as usual.  The temporarily side-lined Mindy was coming for a walk and a much needed Edna and Lucy's fix.  Rick, Mindy, and I walked over to check out the race.  It was amazing.  They had a million categories, three computers timing, and a large flat-screen displaying results.  We also watched a kids' six minute race.

Okay already, we needed to hit E&L's.  It did not disappoint.  Now with the cool weather, we can also look forward to trying yummy soups.

Sunday, I met up with Dora at Pineland to share some of her long run.  I did a little over a 10k.  She got in around 13 miles.  Mindy came and walked with me while Dora finished up.  Then, of course, we continued our chatter over food at E&L's!  By the way, Dora looks really strong and will be killing a 1/2 trail marathon soon : )