Summer Running At "The Brad"

Something about running Bradbury when the temps are warm, and the summer feeling is in the air.
Even though the terrain is still spring like as far as conditions go, the 75 degree temps had summer written all over it.

If I stated any complaint at all, it would be the uncomfortableness of mud and particles in my shoes. After hitting shin deep mud spots, I purposely ran through pure water to try and rinse some of the irritating granules out. this is not usually a big problem when wearing sox, but today I was running in the New Balance minimus which I do not wear sox.

My intent was to run a semi race pace 4 or 5 miler then hit the O trail for a bit of torture. I started out at a pretty good clip and once I hit Lanzo Trail, I was feeling quite spry and enjoying the feeling of extending the stride and pushing the pace.

The difference in my weight this year is very noticeable on the trails as I seem to be able to negotiate the twisting terrain much better. What a difference a few pounds make.

When I got to the O trail, I took a few moments to take off the shoes and wipe some of the dirt off, that felt a lot better. This O trail run would be my base time for this year as I planned on taking it easy and hopefully not getting lost.

 To my surprise, there were new lime green colored trail markers and it surely made negotiating this trail much easier.....I still had a few confused moments but the markers sure helped a lot. One thing I noticed, is one direction there were wooden markers and the other direction there was a painted mark on the trees, so if I got turned around for some reason, I could tell I was going the wrong way.

About halfway through  I was feeling fatigue and a heaviness in my legs that reminded me of the Bruiser. I found myself longing for the end and quite happy when I found it. To my surprise, I ran the O faster than I thought I would ....only about 4 minutes slower than my fastest time for the 2.4 miles.

The O trail is like repeatedly slamming your legs with a baseball bat and as funny as it might sound, the dead leg feeling really felt good.......like the feeling of stretching out a lame muscle the day after a weight workout.

Overall.....just an excellent run.

4.75 miles @44:58 ( 9:27 pace)......124-173 heart rate
O trail 2.4  miles @33:38 (14:01 pace)...137-149 heat rate