Today was my first walk since Heartland. I got up early and went to the Rowlett Creek Preserve. The Preserve is a mountain biking trail with 11 loops that add up to about eight miles. It's a nice mixture of twisty rooty trail, smooth dirt trail and major ups and downs. The trail can be pretty hard on the legs because the ups are not long uphills but quick, steep inclines. I have to run and jump up them--there's no way to walk them.
I got to the trail when it opened at 6:00 am. Unfortunately, I forgot about the shortening of the days this time of year, so it was completely dark when I started. I tried to walk in the dark but very quickly lost the trail. I decided to head home and get my flashlight. However, I forgot that I had been walking in the moist, dewy dirt. Unbeknownst to me, I tracked mud all through the house. I headed back to the trail, did all of the loops once, then headed back home. I was so dismayed to see the footprints all through the living room. I still haven't cleaned them up.
Distance: 10.02 miles
Time: Don't know--Garmin was all over the map today and kept switching to "Rest mode" even though my pace hadn't slowed
Tonight I took my daughter to the local high school track to work on her Marathon Kids program. Like a classic beginner she went out too fast and had to walk after a while, but she enjoyed it and wanted to keep going. She did some running, some racewalking (it sort of looked like racewalking!) and some regular walking, plus we took a nice break after about a mile and watched some guys playing football. Yesterday I took her to Chuck E. Cheese, hell on earth for a parent but a kid's dream come true. Then we went to Paciugo for some ice cream/gelato. If you have a Paciugo nearby you should definitely check it out. Their gelato is delicious and all of the flavors have less fat than ice cream; the water based flavors are fat free.
Distance: 1.25 miles
Time: A long time!
I'm still trying to decide what my race schedule will be. I think I will not race in December (except maybe a local 5k like the Jingle Bell Run) to give myself a chance to train hard for the longer distances. I may do a 50k in January, then a 50 mile race in February, then the Three Days of Syllamo stage race in March. This is all tentative, of course. I'm not sure what my body can tolerate and will have to build up my endurance slowly. I'm really intrigued by the three day stage race so I really want to do that one. It would be interesting to head out three days in a row for some beautiful mountain racing!
