On the way to Rockledge, it seemed like it was taking us longer than normal. There was a good reason for this; there is a lot of new trail. On our way back, we didn’t figure out how to stay on the old trail but wound up on the new one again. We’d later meet Bill near Murrell Park and would find out that we missed him when we took the new trail and he took the old one. We wondered how he managed to sneak around us!

We headed to the harder section and I was feeling pretty good. My energy level was decent even with little rest. I was getting tired of the taste of Succeed so I opted to refill with only water. Bad decision. With about 1.5 miles left, I started getting light headed and dizzy. Deborah suggested I take her up on her offer of trail mix. I finished the bag while we continued on and realized I was very low on calories. I didn’t eat breakfast and we’d been going for 5 hours solid. No wonder I was constantly thinking about food!

Given that it was my first run since Tyler, I was suprised to make it to the end and not feel terrible. Hopefully this will pay off at Grasslands next week.

Similar to what we did before Rockledge, Deborah and I arrived at 5:30am to begin about two hours of warm up before the official run started. We opted for the more southern/eastern half of the trail since the other half would come later. The temperature at the start of the run was nice, if even a bit warm and muggy, but made for some nice training. We were pretty much all alone for the first two hours and only met a biker towards the very end of our run. We had our headlamps from MADD to Jackson, but it was light enough to do without them about a half mile back from Jackson.

We got back to our cars in a little over two hours which wasn’t bad considering a couple of pit stops. We found that our cars were the only ones in the parking lot and everyone else had headed to Little Pete’s. After parking and mingling with club members, it was our turn to draw and head on our way. We wanted to get an early start on everyone since we’d be running slow and near the back of the pack. Heading out, we stayed with Stan and Beverly for a short while but they pulled away quickly. We drew again with Letha at the water fountain and headed up to Far Gate to draw from Mark. By this time, most everyone had passed us except for one group, but we were content. Back to Letha and on to Twin Coves for our final card and some food.

My first three draws turned out to be 10s and it would leave me with a 4th place finish. Not bad for a Sunday morning and it was a nice treat to what turned out to be an excellent day for a trail run. If the service at Little Pete’s had been quicker, it would have been nice, but it allowed us to catch up and chat with other club members, so it was all good.

First, something interesting to note: today’s run put me at 1000.7 miles officially logged in my joglog. I know I’ve not logged every run since I first began, but for the last couple of years, I have put everything in.

With a rather weak base, I decided for my mind’s sake I needed to get in another long run before the upcoming Palo Duro 50K I’m scheduled to run Oct 21. Since I now kind of know my way to and around the Northshore trail, I decided to give it a try after a recent rain. I had no idea what to expect. While I did end up completing the distance I originally set out to do, I tried to convince myself to quit. It was just after the 9 mile mark after I set back out to complete the south portion of the trail. I turned around, took two steps, and realized I needed to get this done no matter how much it hurt (and it did, but not too badly!).

I started around 7:30 this morning and the temperature was quite nice. I believe it was in the upper 50s according to radio weather reports. The sun was already providing a lot of light by the time I got to the parking lot so I quickly unpacked my things and set out on the more northern part of the route. I decided to take it first because it is hiller and less runable. I figured if I got it down in a decent time, I’d feel good about myself and be inspired to tackle the second half with no problem. Well, I did tackle it quite well, coming in at 12:00/m right on the nose. Looking back, I really did run a lot of things I should have walked and probably did not rest as much as I should have since I kept a pretty quick pace. And it came back to get me.

During the first half I also got two pleasant reminders that I should be really careful of the terrain. Due to heavy mud in one spot almost to Far Gate, my left foot got stuck in the mud then slid from under me. Though I didn’t fall, my right hand (also carrying my water bottle) did go knuckles-first to the ground. I awarded myself a 9 for technical merit and an 8 for style :-). My second almost disaster came on a nasty downhill rocky section. My left foot tripped over a rock and I went lunging down the hill much faster than I wanted to. I kept my footing and managed to keep from wiping out. That one could have been really bad, including injuries to all sorts of things.

I got back to my truck and was feeling pretty good. The morning was nice and I had carried plenty of fluid. I ate part of a Cliff Bar and downed a bit of water. I spent 7 minutes in all on this stop. There was more of that to come … much more. My time heading to Rockledge from MADD seems to be exactly 1 hour. I spent 10 minutes of that sitting at a picnic bench just absorbing the day and resting. Once at Rockledge, I spent a whopping 21 minutes looking at the lake and laying flat on my back on a picnic table. Then back to MADD, I took a little over an hour without official stops, but with a ton of butt dragging up the hills. I also didn’t have quite enough water for the entire second leg. That mentally got me down, particularly when the new water fountain that some of the club members were sure to point out was dry.

This run was night and day from Saturday. I felt really bad once I finished. Though I went quicker, I don’t feel like it was worth it. I know if I had to go 13 more miles today, I’d have been in big trouble. I actually think I could have managed a smile after 13 more on Saturday. This just reminds me that I should probably go out really easy and keep my slow and steady pace to the finish line.

Today highlighted one of my really bad habits (at least when it comes to making good progress). I tend to want to spend a lot of time just sitting around when I feel like I could use a good rest. During races, I know I’ve spent 15+ minutes at aid stations. Over the course of a 50k, that adds up big time and is probably why my pace has been dragging. But then again, looking at my slow pace from Saturday, even if I didn’t need to rest, I’d still probably be taking it easy. Hmm … how to fix this?

One more thing, I tried Bag Balm on my toes just to get used to the feeling. It felt icky at first but I got used to it. I am not sure if it helped any, but I did not blister.

Since I had gotten lost earlier in the week, I decided to head out early Saturday morning to see the entire Northshore Trail at Grapevine Lake. I was also eager to meet many of the NTTR club members who regularly post messages to the mailing list.

Deborah kindly offered to drive me into the MADD shelter since the surrounding area is a bit messy. I met her at 6:35am in an Exxon parking lot before heading to the MADD shelter. After arriving, I pulled the things out of my paper bag that I’d readied the night before. I had two amphipod 20oz bottles filled with pre-mixed Gu2O powder, a few Cliff Bars, and some new Cliff gummy squares. I finished off part of a Cliff Bar I’d opened the previous night (the brownie one is hard to resist!) and then started chatting with the group as more people arrived.

Before I knew it, we were out on the trail and the morning was quite brisk. There were about 8 of us in all and we headed towards the south section first. Before too long, I realized that the wrong turn I’d taken was exactly what I thought. The group split up around here and Deborah and I continued together for the rest of the 18 miles.

We are both pretty talkative and the miles were just flying by. I was watching my bottle closely to make sure I was drinking regularly but saving enough to make it back to the half-way point and pick up my other bottle.

Around the 4-mile mark, I looked over to the lake and noticed someone going for an open water swim. I don’t know what temperature the water was but the air still had a very welcomed crispness to it. Right after this, we came upon the group of 4 that had split off earlier but somewhere along the way they picked up Letha. I went for a pit stop at Rockledge and then we headed right back on the trail.

The miles really were just slipping right on by and everything was feeling great. My legs weren’t tired, I didn’t feel short of breath, and my feet weren’t developing any hot spots. Our pace was a bit slow, but I figured I would be dying long before 18 rolled around so figured it was for the best.

We got back to the MADD parking lot and I had a gummy and some Cliff Bar and exchanged my empty amphipod previously filled with lemon-lime for my one filled with orange. As we headed on the more northern trail, Deborah reminded me that it was a bit hillier and rocky that what we’d just done. I expected it to be a lot worse than it turned out to be but it was nice to have some climbs to mix things up. She was certain to point out the hills that one club member “requires” everyone to run, which I found pretty humorous.

We stopped a couple times to chit chat with club members, the second time was for quite a while. After we’d finished, we realized that we might have actually been going faster on the second half of the run than the first since there was only 9 minutes difference in the split times.

Late in the run, after we’d been talking about electrolyte replacement, working, sleep cycles, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, water ice, gelato (were we getting hungry?), we starting talking about upcoming races and training goals. It was mentioned that I should consider running the 100K at Bandera and then Umstead in March and Javelina next November. I couldn’t get over thinking about the 100K at Bandera. Sure, the training runw as going great, but I still have a pretty big mental block I need to work through. My 2004 Bandera 50K was misery and I was super slow. I can’t imagine putting myself through twice that and for some of it in the dark! But honestly I am pretty psyched right now because I’ve got myself thinking that a 50 mile run on an easier course is within reach.

This was an excellent run for me and I really needed it to get my confidence up for Palo Duro. We both knew we could have gone faster but it was nice to finish it with such ease. I’m looking forward to heading back out there soon to put in the miles!

I finally made it out to the Northshore Trail at Grapevine Lake … and after wandering around for a bit, I made it back to where I started. Yes, I got lost on a training run. Originally I had intended to go about a mile further than I did, but I somehow couldn’t figure out how to get to the MADD Shelter heading north. So instead of a 9 mile training run, I wound up with 7.

I wound up at the intersection of Sentinel Oaks Dr and Three Bridges Dr. I turned around and went back down the asphalt and headed towards the lake. After staying left, however, it seemed like I was at a dead end. I could see the small marina to my left but didn’t understand how the trail could wind around near the beach. After a steep climb back up, I walked back to what seems like a parking area in front of some restrooms. There were two pairs of boots strung over a powerline. I’m sure regulars on the trail know exactly where this is. I suspect that I needed to stay right along the asphalt to continue on the right path. I did see two bikers coming from somewhere and I’m guessing that’s where.

It was nice to be back on a true trail and I am happy about my decision to venture out there even on a very hot 90+ degree day. I did take my new handheld amphipod water bottle that is totally easy to carry and not distracting. In the past I have tried handheld bottles and found them unconfortable and irritating. This puppy does the trick. The one thing I need to improve is bringing two along next time. With the heat and the “detour”, I could have used more fluids getting back to my truck.

I like this trail because it has enough scenery and trail changes to be interesting. In ways it reminded me of the days I used to run along the Greenbelt near downtown Austin. This is definitely a trail I will return to in the future. It is much more runnable than the bike trails at L.B. Houston park, though I will have to work on figuring out the path all the way to the 9-mile turnaround point.

A few training notes: I didn’t have as much discomfort in my feet mainly due to the varied terrain. When you have to work on footing, the use of so many different muscles in the lower legs keeps the feet guessing exactly how they will land. I can see how it would be pretty easy to face plant due to the roots and rocks. :-)