Thank You Old Ladies

The plan was to run two up and backs on the rail trail and Holden and after one I was flat out board. I can't stand running on flat surfaces that just go on and on. I need some variation, elevation gain/loss, small hills or whatever, just not flat where you can see for the next two miles ahead of you. So after the first up and back (6 miles), I decided to back down the trail for a mile and back to the car (2 miles). I thought its only been an hour and I saw some single track packed out so might as well give it a go.

The single track was nicely packed and would run along the river for about a half mile. I hit the terminus of the trail which dumped me out on river st and proceeded to turn around and do the trail in reverse (1 mile) back to the car. I thought to myself, I came here to do 12 and I got 9 so far. I had plenty left in the tank and decided to take on the hilly section of the rail trail heading towards manning st. Upon reaching the crest of the hill (which was postholed to the max), I ran into about 12 older women (probably in their 50's to 60's) all with snowshoes on! They were doing me the pleasure of packing down the rest of my route. I stopped for minute and thanked them for their work and then was off to finish my route. I hit manning street and returned to the car (2.2 miles) for a grand total of 11.2 miles in an hour and half (8:03 miles).

Figured I'd split my 6 mile time and had a 21 down (and wasn't even running hard) and 44 back. No negative split, but I wasn't looking for one.

Cool article about the "runner's high" in the nytimes