Notes
Last night I planned out my route to run today in Bismarck. I modified a route that someone had created on mapmyrun. I generally ran this route http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/nd/bismarck/319011524506 except deviated a few places to check out the different directions of the trails. I didn't realize the River Road portion had a paved trail along the side. The course ended up following this trail system at about 6.5 miles and almost all the way back to the hotel. Some of the trail was next to the Missouri River. I also didn't realize I can get on this trail system about a half mile from the hotel so I have a lot more options. I learned quickly that the street portion was very easy to navigate and I don't think I could get lost here. It is all laid out very neatly. The trails are all paved and very nice just like Madison. I guess a state with a billion $ budget surplus from their oil profits can have nice trails.
The temps were perfect, sunny, and not nearly as windy as yesterday when I arrived. It would have been a perfect day to run a marathon. It stays light until 10 pm here so maybe I will get out again later. I didn't see anyone out running for a few miles and then encountered several runners on the trail. I took it pretty easy. The run didn't seemed very easy since I felt cool nearly the entire run. This will be nice running for a few days, but will appreciate the humid warm temps in Missouri more. I didn't carry any water on this run and was fine. I did notice quite a few vending machines with drinks along the course and thought would be nice if Columbia's parks and trails had vending machines. It seems strange that we don't. Also, paved trails are great to run on.
m1 - 8:14.......m8 - 7:44
m2 - 8:02.......m9 - 7:51
m3 - 7:55.....m10 - 7:58
m4 - 7:37.....m11 - 7:37
m5 - 7:37.....m12 - 7:30
m6 - 7:44.....m13 - 7:30
m7 - 7:35.....m14 - 7:12
0.3 - 2:02 (6:47 pace)