Sunday Tough Trail run

I decided I wanted to get a hard trail run in before I leave for Xmas vacation, to see where i stand with my trail running and to get one of possibly 3 training runs before Jan 10. I'm signed up for the 50km Trail Race in Bandera, TX (photos here)

There is a chance I will drop down to 25km race as I'm still considering how long it will take me from running a rough 50km trail for 5.5 to 6.5 hours. There's not too much time to rebuild my base before Boston in April, and I don't want to be out of commission for 2 or 3 weeks while others ramp up to our peak mileage. We shall see.

Today's run was a good challenge, that was met by all 4 of us. Larry, Bruce and Jo Dee. It's worth pointing out that Jo Dee went and ran 5 or 6 miles on the trail prior to meeting with us. I drew up a challenging course in my head that would have us never hitting the same trail twice, and had 3 tough climbs. Usually in trail races i run/walk up the big climbs to conserve energy, but today, it was all about running every single one of them. I was out on the trails for a total of 3 hours and 4 minutes.

I felt good at the end, tired for sure, but I think I could have kept going for another hour, maybe hour and a half. Could I have gone 2.5 to 3 more hours? I'm not sure. Then again, for a 50k, my pace would have been slower, and i wouldn't have climbed every big hill like i did today, and wouldn't have attacked the other climbs either.

We (or at least I) will do it again next Sunday, and may have some food in the car, so I can return out onto the trails for another hour or two and see who it goes.

It's cold outside. Not eskimo cold, but it was in the high 30's (3-4C), and quite windy. The trees did a good job of blocking the chilly wind.

3 miles with karma up to the lookout and back, then Powerline to Rattlesnake, to Field, to Sculpture falls, to Hill of Life, back down the long way, to the dam, to cedar chop and up, to far South, to the big empty, down middle road to the water, up the Z, back onto different section of middle road all the way around, and home via the concussion tree. About 17-18 miles, it looked something like this.