Notes
Went with Ron out to the Blue Marsh trail outside of Reading to attempt to run on part of the Blues Cruise course.
Ron wanted to run the tail end of the race course to see what the hill situation was like. He had been down there twice already and ran the beginning portions and beginning to middle portions.
Well, we got there, parked at what appeared to be a parking lot near the end. But, the trail was not easy to find from where we were and the map wasn't helping us orient ourselves. We ended up starting running down this gravelly path reminiscent of the tow path that goes from Allentown to Easton. We got a mile down it to the next map sign and parking lot to discover we were on the wrong path and were heading in the wrong direction. So we went back. Got 2 miles in there. Then we spent some time trying to figure out where the map was pointing out where the real Blues Cruise trail was. We walked around, down a road for a bit until eventually we just got back in the car and went this way and that way before giving up and just going to the start of the course.
So, we ended up running about the first 7 miles of the course, turned around and came back for about 14 miles, 16 total. There were hills, some were steep, but none (at least in the first 7 miles) were as long as what we've seen at half-wit. And there were less rocks. But, going for 31 miles on that course (and if the middle and end sections are anything like the beginning section) those hills are going to wear you down.
It was a humid day and we ran out of water by about halfway, so it was a rough run back. However, glad I got to run some of the course. I tried out another GU gel today, but didn't really feel like I needed it.