Bradbury 10ish

Man, was I cranky when I woke up this morning. I just wasn't feeling motivated for a run. But, we had already had made plans to meet Ian and Jim at Bradbury, so off we went. I wasn't feeling too frisky for the first 15 minutes or so, but eventually the juices got flowing. We ran an out and back on the main snowmobile trail in the park, and the conditions were less than perfect. The trail was fairly soft, certainly not unrunnable, but definitely soft. We also saw a couple snowmobiles on the trail, and it seemed that every time they went by, they seemed to soften it up rather than pack it down.

D and I hung back a bit on the way out, but then Ian and I ran together on the way back while Jim entertained D with 4.5 miles of stories. Once I reached the parking lot, I turned back to see how D was faring. I didn't get very far before she and Jim appeared still going well and still smiling. Ian showed off his baking prowess by bringing some tasty peanut butter oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies. According to D's Garmin, the out and back was 9.7, so with my short addition I'm sure I was just shy of 10 in 1:41:21. All in all, another great day on the trails.

Aside from the initial crankiness and touch of sluggishness, I felt great on the run. It was my second long run as part of my Pineland 50k training, and I'd say things are right on track. Well, the hamstring issue is still there, they felt better today after the run than they did yesterday morning following a day off. So, that's a good sign. Still moving ahead.

Also today, I wore my new Nathan HPL 020 pack. In short, I was impressed. With a 72oz bladder, it was certainly overkill for this run, but I wanted to test it out. Successful test. It was comfortable. It didn't move at all. It also gave me easy access to the camera, which was a plus. The bite valve on the hydration hose is a little funky, or at least different from the Camelbak I have, but I'm certain I'll get used to it. It's going to be great on long runs.


Snowman, Fezzik and gIANt