Today Val met me at Thorncrag as she graciously offered her guidance in negotiating the trails. I really didn't know what to expect as she and Jamie ran it the other day and his easy run was about 10:20 mile pace while she described it as a pretty tough run for her. This meant probably 12 minute pace for me if I push it.
Val warned me that there were some pretty good hills at this place and she wasn't kidding.... within a measly 5 or 10 steps, we hit this good size hill. About half way up I wished I had warmed up a bit first because breathing was now a luxury....3/4 of the way up I was wondering why Val wanted to kill me and my legs were screaming stop!
Once we crested Val quietly mentioned that the other two major hills coming up were worse. OK if she wanted to convince me to go home, this would do it. Lucky for me we hit some pretty level and down hill spots after the first hill and I was able to stabilize a bit.
We stopped for a few seconds to admire Whale rock, which was really cool and it does look like a whale. Then we hit the second and largest of the hills. I decided this was a hill for me to walk mostly because my body was kicking me in the butt for running the first hill. I walked about 3/4 of this hill then enjoyed a pretty long downhill recoupe after.
The third hill I again decided walking would be smart. A little after half way though, I was feeling pretty good and went back to running. The rest of the run breezed by and suddenly we were done. I wish I had more time because at this point I was feeling really good and well warmed up. I think the first big hill would have been a lot easier the second time around....as well as the other two hills.
Last year Jamie clocked this run as 4.4 miles and this year at 4.1 miles. My old 301 garmen really struggles in the woods and notariously shows large gaps and short distances. Mine read 3.61 but I called the run 4.1 as I think Jamie's is much more acurate.
Considering I did some walking, my running pace was pretty quick for this terrain. Overall I was quite satisfied with this run. I am looking forward to giving this trail a second try, perhaps do a double loop and running the whole thing. There is no doubt that this trail offers a great workout.
I would like to measure this course a bit better....if this does turn out to be 4.4 miles, then I am surely even happier with this run!
4.1 miles @ 47:35 (11:37 pace)
splits:
11:32
12:08
11:51
10:53
9:58
3 comments:
I keep getting an error message when trying to comment on your posts. I'll try again.... So glad to introduce you to Thorncrag. My Garmin indicated we did run 4.1 miles. I had a real advantage on that first "hill" since I'd warmed up a bit before you got there : )
Thanks for the tour Val.....even with the hills, it was a lot of fun and had some pretty sceenic spots. I didn't see any birds though.
Hey Kevin, I recognised you right away in the getty image...;-)
Congrats on your baby granddaugher, Wow that is a real milestone!
Hope you're brave enought to keep running as the days grow shorter - but lucky for you its not just rain ahead!
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