Notes
Sunny but cold morning, no wind. Plan was 20 today and meeting up with Bob P and Debbie at 9am. Started in shorts and short tech T with my jacket. Dressed right starting out. Ran the 1st three miles of the old race course. The first section of singletrack was no longer posted and the MTB guys had leaf blown it. Super nice running. The shortcut trail was also blown as was the wiggle trail before the picnic area, all geat running. Stopped to take a selfie at the obligatory spot. Then kept going out the second half of Homestead. Everything felt good, I was moving right along but trying not to go too fast, hiked a couple hills. My goal was 45 minutes out and then back so I would be back in time to meet Bob and Deb. Ran out the ATV. Ran/hiked the long hill. Hit 45 minutes just after the 3.5 mile mark and I turned around. I was pretty hot and sweaty so I took off my jacket and tied it around my waist. Felt much better. Run back to the car was good. When I got back I ate my other Poptart, put on my long sleeve shirt and waited for the crew. Deb showed up first and we chatted until Bob showed up. I told them my plan and I was on call so I couldn't go way out into the park. They were looking for 12 and decided to run where I wanted to. Deb wanted to start on Porcupine so we did that. Took the shortcut down to Homestead and ran that out to the ATV. Deb wanted to go up the Ledges so we ran out the ATV. We mostly ran and only hiked a little until we got to Ledges. Mostly hiked up the Ledges. Had a GU at the top. We ran around the Deer Path extension, across the closed trail, and stopped at the bridge I cleaned. Then we went out Fox Run to the ATV. I suggested going up Ridge and down the Ledges then back to Homestead and run the race course back. It would get us to just about 20 for me and little over what they wanted to run. Legs starting to feel in on the way down Ledges. Had another GU at the bottom as we headed back. Hiked a little more but still ran more than I will during the race. Really felt like I was running out of gas going back on Homestead. Bob had a GU and picked up the pace. Deb and I hung back a little. Started to feel a little bonky on the first section of singletrack so when we got back to the ATV I had another GU. We walked up to Harrington and I had to stop to get a rock out of my shoe. Ran Harrington to Porcupine to take that back. Soon onto Porcupine I could feel my hip and IT band start to complain. I tried keeping my core tight, but I was pretty worn out. IT band pretty painful by the time we got to the ATV. A little more walking for me. Back at the cars, I needed another quarter mile to hit 20. Deb and Bob took off and I looped around the parking lot back to the trail. I tried running on my toes, engaging my quad and calf. Seemed to help the IT band, but it was still complaining. Ran up to the gate and then back, hit 20. I think I will be hiking more during the race to the IT band should be better. Also this was my longest run this year. Fun run with Bob and Debbie as usual. Glad to get a 20 miler under my belt for the race.
Gear: shorts, short sleeve shirt and jacket, then long tech T, head band, sunscreen, water pack