Notes
Met Bob A, Bob P., and Glenn at the Black Mtn. parking lot for a out and back run to WhiteCap mountain. We ran/hiked up to the Black Mountain hiking trail start. We hiked and ran some up the hiking trail. Jeff Arsenault has been doing alot of work on this trail and it really looked good. It is a steep trail though, not much running. Popped out at the top and did not go to the summit, but headed for the trail down the backside of Black. This trail has a lot of leaves and sticks, it was quite a mess, needs to be raked to start with. The guys got quite a bit ahead of me as I am not as fast downhill as they are. We stopped at the snowmobile crossing and I had a GU. We started across the Black to White connector trail and this one was also a mess. I caught sticks between my legs and fell once, and almost fell about 3 other times. I was able to stay with the guys for most of the run as they were stopping to move branches and downed trees. We got to the Whitecap intersection and Bob P. headed down to the Whitecap parking lot to pick up Debbie and her cousin Amy. Bob and Glenn decided to go also and took off to try and catch Bob. I went but at a much slower pace. I was worried about having enough water to make it all the way back. It was a lot further to the parking lot than I remembered. My legs were pretty beat at this point and I made the decision not to climb Whitecap but just head back on my own. Debbie offered me some of her water but I still had quite a bit. I had a half of PBJ while we headed out. They took off at a pretty good pace, I quickly fell behind and then they were out of sight. I hiked and ran when I could, just not very fast. They waited for me at the intersection but I told them I was going back. I felt ok going back on the connector trail and didn't trip, but I did have to stop and look around for the trail a few times. I was starting to get thirsty but held off and tried to conserve water. I took out another GU at the snowmobile crossing but didn't stop. Hiking back was tough but not horrible. I stopped at few streams to splash my face. I was able to run the flatter sections near the top. Popped back out at the top and started down through the ski area. There was a lot of debris in the ski trail down to the lift and I had to be careful to pick up my feet. My quads were pretty tired, so I tried to run switchbacks on the way down. Made it down to the lift ok and picked my way to the first set of glades. Stopped at the entrance to tighten my shoe laces and I think that made a big difference. I felt pretty good running down through the glades. The trail was good, pretty clean through all 3 sections of glades. Took the last steep section of ski trail down to the bridge pretty slow since my quads were toast. Slower going down the old front trail too. Looped around to the last hill by tubing and turned into the stadium. I was about 0.3 miles short of 13, so I kept going past the lodge and came back into the parking lot and did a loop there to get to 13. I was back about 10 mins when the other started to show up. I went to the stream that runs into the snow making pond and found a pool at the outlet of the culvert. The water was clear and cold. I was able to submerge my whole body it felt great.
Bob P. took off as he had to take Debbie and Amy back to their car at Whitecap.Bob and Glenn had to go to. I changed after they left and headed home.
This was great training run. I was definitely beat, but my legs weren't trashed and nothing else hurt. It was a good decision not to go to the top of Whitecap. I need to get a Lifestraw or something for these long mountain runs with no place to drop water. Lack of water was really my only issue. Calorie intake was good, my energy was good the whole time, never felt like I was going to bonk. Although I was pretty hungry coming down the glades.