Another long run

3/14/09
Saturday

Another 3 hr scheduled run and another completed, well almost as I ended up at 2:55:38 when I arrived back home. I quickly weighed out between running an additional
4 minutes or my morning (late morning by now) coffee. Well the coffee won out. I didn't figure the four minutes would matter that much.

Below, a sunny shot from Blueberry hill in Cumberland.





I shot a short video of landscape at the top of Blueberry hill. It is a place full of past memories. When I was in school,we used to party up here and half the fun was getting up the hill as there was not really a road but more like a rocky trail. I didn't run back then but we had 4x4 trucks and they had little trouble negotiating the rocks and brush.







Todays run was much better than last week as I didn't need the snowshoes. Instead I wore my Northface gortex with screws. It was perfect and I had just the right amount of traction. The snow was quite hard except for an inch or two of granular type material. It did get a little softer as time went by but was very runable through the hole trek.

I managed 14 miles in the 2:55:38 time and am quite happy with that as the terrain is very uneven and hilly. I was surprised at one point when a mountain biker passed me on a downhill. I was happy to return the favor and pass him on the next uphill.

This run felt very good and I only walked a couple big hills out of the dozen or so.
I actually could have run those too but I am training for the 50k and figure I better have some training with walking. I think for sure I will be walking then.


A great day overall, 17 degrees to start and 30 when I finished. The sun was bright, warm and beautiful......just a spring feeling through the whole run even though I was running on snow.

My only complaint is a sore right calf bone. Not the shin but the other bone in the rear of the leg. I don't think this will be a problem but it does show how rough the terrain is on the trails. I was planning an easy road run on Sunday but opted out because the soreness was still there.

My reason for running Saturday is to give me time to get signed up for the B to B as I suspected I was fighting hard with the thousands who wanted a slot.

2:55:38
14 miles total
12:33 average mile pace
137 average HR with a max of 156