trail running 59:39 [3] 4.66 mi (12:48 / mi) +983ft 10:40 / mi
rhr:53 weight:134lbs shoes: pegasus #3
Another adventure, i.e. running someplace I'd never been, this time on some bike trails in Charlemont by the Berkshire East ski area (called Thunder Mountain many years ago). The trails are of fairly recent vintage, last two or three years. The terrain alternates between steep and very steep, but they seem to have done a good job of making ridable trails, at least for someone with more skills than I have on a bike.
But bike trails are almost always good for running as they aren't generally too steep, although in this case they do go up and up and up, and then eventually back down.
They'd also made a map recently, looked rather nice, and I procured a copy to take with me, both to have some sense of where I was going and also to see if the map was any good.
The map was decent, certainly better than some I've seen (such as the trail maps put out by the Commonwealth for its state parks and forests, where the mapping of the trails has only a slight connection to reality). But it's hard to know what to think when the map shows a trail that doesn't seem to exist, or has junctions that don't look at all right. Willful incompetence, or clever planning, the latter being the case if the map is trying to reflect trail work that hasn't yet been finished. But in many places the turns on the trails corresponded nicely to the map, and in checking afterwards, well, their GPS wasn't much different than my GPS.
It was just as good that I had the map for entertainment, because my running truly sucked. Zero energy and zero willpower and a hot day and I was toast before I started it seemed. I decided the way to cope was just to take short stops, a minute or so, as often as needed, but when I was moving keep running instead of walking. I think I needed about a dozen stops. Not a good day.
But at least I got out. The plan for the month is that running comes first, get it done in the first part of the day. Now I just have to get out earlier, especially as it gets hotter.
And wore the bike gloves. They seemed to be tolerable, but of course this would be the day I didn't fall at all, so not really a good test as to how much they will help when I do go down.