Trail Monster Running

Visit the official TRAIL MONSTER RUNNING website for information on upcoming group runs, local trails, trail races and more, including the Pineland Farms Trail Running Festival and the Bradbury Mountain trail Running Series.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Slop

This never happens to me since Saturday trail runs are one of the highlights of my week, but today I just wasn't into it. The feeling probably had something to do with the rain, which usually doesn't bother me but there's something about waking up before the sun and hearing the rain that made me want to stay in bed. I had already decided that I wasn't going to do a long run this weekend, saving something for the Fat Ass 50k in Topsfield next weekend, so I guess I was wondering what the point was.

I made it to Bradbury a few minutes before 8 and Blaine was already waiting. Just as we got out of our cars Blaine commented that at least it wasn't raining any more, precipitation had now turned to sleet. Erik arrived and I suggested we go out for breakfast instead of running today but unfortunately these guys wanted to run so we took off on the Northern Loop Trail towards the summit.

This was the first time in several weeks that I decided to run without snowshoes at Bradbury, instead I picked a muddy pair of Inov-8's that needed a good cleaning. The trail conditions weren't too bad going up the mountain, a little soft, fairly wet with a few places where the snow was completely washed out. It took about 19 minutes to get to the summit, and then 10 minutes to get back down again. We then headed across the road for a loop of the Knight Woods trail where conditions seemed to be even softer underfoot and I found myself postholing quite a bit. Despite the difficulty Blaine and I managed to churn out a few miles under a 9:30 pace.

After about 40 minutes I was losing interest so I decided to head back. Blaine kept going on the Snowmobile Trail to work on getting his annual mileage over 1,900. At least I got my shoes clean.

time: 43:24
distance: 4.4 miles
pace: 9:52
heart rate: 163/182
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1 comment:

Blaine Moore said...

I was enjoying myself. I like to run in the rain, and since it was pretty warm out I was comfortable. I wound up doing about 9 and a half, although I took a couple of falls when I was running at 7 minute pace and fell through the ice. The first time I landed on my shoulder and just rolled over and got back up, but then about 20 feet farther along I went down on my knee. That took a moment or three to recover from. No damage, though, and it was fun.

I have to admit, though, that coming back up the Knight's Wood Trail was the most difficult part of the run. I had entertained the thought of running up to the summit again, but the last mile or so just left me absolutely exhausted. Probably the nice little slope combined with the lack of snowmobiles combined with the fact that 8 or 9 miles of running through the snow had left me tired...

Good luck at the Fat Ass. I'll stick to running locally I think.

December 30, 2007 at 3:23 PM

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