Love Hate

That's how I relate to the trails in Hartley Park. When they are in good shape, as with me, there is no better place in Duluth to trail run. When they are in poor shape it separates the true trail runners from the wannabees. That's where I fall. Literally. I love trail running but my recent years of road running/racing have left my trails skills a little, shall I say, sketchy. I don't even own a pair of "real trail shoes" and this morning that might have been nice.

My buddy Chris Gardner, who may be participating in a certain race in the near future, and I chatted last night and he was planning on one more key long trail run. I didn't have any solid long run planned other than "easy aerobic 14-18 miles" which pretty much left the door wide open for me to join him. We met at the park at 0530, yes that's a.m., and had a near hour of headlamp running before getting back to the car aid-station. (i must mention that it was a whopping 3-4 minutes into the run and I made my first kiss with the mud. my toe caught a rock and down I went) The second loop was going well, but my hip flexors were getting tight and I just concentrated on short solid strides on the uphills to help alleviate some of the stress on the muscles. It was 1:14:00 into the run and bam! Down I went faster than I could imagine. My foot slid out from under me on a muddy corner and I fell to my right hip and just lay there stunned. I haven't fallen on a run in close to two years and now I fall twice in one hour. WTF??? No harm done, except I may be visiting the chiropractor after we return from out camping excursion which starts tomorrow. I finished that lap with Chris and headed out for a third before turning around to make my finish an even 2:30:00. Good for 15 miles on pretty technical trails. I'll take it. Great run. Thanks Chris for the laughs, it was a nice "change" to be hitting the trails for my long run.

Totals: 2:30:00 15.1 miles

Friday:

I woke up to heavy rain, thunder and lightening. Not ideal conditions for a ninety minute run with steady-state miles mixed in. I took the morning off in hopes to get the workout in after work. Not to be. At first I was a little pissed but sometimes life isn't fair. I will survive.

Totals: 0 miles