8 Hilly Miles

Emma and I, once again following her 50 mile training schedule, planned to do an 8 mile run at Bradbury on Sunday with Jim. Before leaving I noticed via Facebook that Danielle and Ryan were also planning an independent run at Bradbury so we agreed to run together.



I had worked out an out-and-back route to the west of the park on snowmobile trails that is filled with steep little hills. The icy conditions made it a bit tricky going both up and down but it was another beautiful day and we were having a lot of run. Near the end of the run I had an idea that I described as "cruel" but Ryan misheard as "cool" and decided it was worth doing. We left the well packed snowmobile trails and headed up a long climb on a snowshoe trail that took us to the summit of Bradbury Mountain. The climb was tough but the clear view from the summit certainly made it worth while. And the sprint downhill to the parking lot was a blast.

The elevation profile really doesn't do justice to the hilliness of the first 7 miles of the run since the climb up Bradbury at the end dwarfs the rest of the hills.

time: 1:23:20
distance: 8.2 miles
pace: 10:10

weather: 28-31 degrees,mostly sunny, breezy

conditions: crusty hard packed and icy snow

gear: Inov-8 Roclite 315 with screws, wools socks, tights, 2x long sleeve tops, gloves, buff