Mountain Run Has Hills

Thursday I headed to the Brad to meet up with Xar.  She remains slightly broken from the Bruiser (an achilles injury), so the plan was for her to mountain bike while I ran (not necessarily together).  I wanted to nail down the 3.5ish mile loop needed for the start of the Punisher .  I planned to run up the Ski Trail, up Northern Loop to the summit, then down to the school to start the mini-loop.

She decided to run the flattish part of the Northern Loop with me to warmup/evaluate the achilles.  We said our goodbyes at the Ski trail.  I estimated I'd be an hour.  Well, I'd just crested the Ski trail when I realized I needed to ask Xar something.  So, I ran back to the parking lot.  Luckily she was still there, prepping her bike.  OK, now I'd be another hour plus.  I told Xar I'd head back to the lot via Terrace.

It was Terrace that I chose to go up this time.  It was steeper than the Ski trail, but more direct.  At the school, I reset my garmin, noticed how much hotter it was than I expected, and started off on the loop.  I went up Lunch Break, picking up down branches and loose rocks as I went.  From the summit, I went down the Terrace.  At the bottom, given my mileage, I decided it was smart to just go straight to the Boundary.  I stayed on the Boundary till the trail back down Lunch Break.  The mileage was near perfect back at the start/finish line.  Yay!

So, I had another run up Lunch Break.  Not having any obstacles as excuses, I decided I needed to run up without stopping.  It seemed way easier than the first time up.  Made it :)  From there, I headed back down Terrace.  "Xar?"  I caught sight of a green shirt heading down the trail.  She'd been up at the top of Lunch Break but thought I might have taken a different route so headed back down.  She'd ditched her bike about midway up Terrace. 

I told her I wanted to check out the distance up Ski, down Northern Loop, back to Boundary and then I'd head back to the cars.  We met back up on the flat return part of Northern Loop.  I was pretty hungry and sweaty.  I got in 8 miles with plenty of climbs.

We went to E&Ls where, after lots of thinking and rethinking, at the suggestion of Sabina, we shared the Grilled Eggplant and the Pear and Goat Cheese sandwiches.  Yum.  A good day out.