Notes
The thought of not running today was starting to take hold, but then Rebel suggested dropping me off outside of town and just running back (he was going to play tennis). That actually sounded alright so I went for it. Of course, immediately after getting out of the car, my legs just felt super stiff and unresponsive.
The first couple miles were new to me and pretty fun. The only downside was the steep hills with stairs. Pretty slow going though. After a few short, wrong turns around the Devil's Track, I got to the intersection I thought Rebel had told me about. I remembered that I should go left but not to go to Pincushion Mountain. Problem was, this sign specifically said that Pincushion Mountain was left and there were looped trails to the right (like the ones I was headed towards). I decided to avoid Pincushion and go right, though I should have trusted my instincts as I ran back 30sec later to check the sign again. I believe this intersection was not the one he talked about.
I ended up on the ski trail loops, not the mountain bike loops. But there were lots of maps for me to figured out how to get out of here, and thankfully the southern end of the ski trails meets the northern end of the bike loops. I headed down Talus, which I soon remembered was the long way, but I was feeling good and didn't mind.
Now I made the only mistake I'm ashamed of as I should know these trails. I was heading back up rift towards my exit when I started doing a few switchbacks. Thinking I had made my way onto Tilt-a-Whirl, I doubled back. After seeing no other intersections, I turned back around to discover I was on the right path all along.
Pretty long day post-workout, but it was enjoyable. Might regret it the next few days though.