Bradbury Run

Both Snowman and I awoke a bit creaky from our hike yesterday. It never ceases to amaze me that even if I feel in good shape, being in shape in one sport does not equal in good shape for another. Even if it's similar activities like running and hiking. Oh well. After a few more hikes, the body will get used to the muscle use and feel fine. Despite the creaks, we headed over to Bradbury for a run after breakfast. We had agreed upon a 1:30 to 1:40 run, and thought we would use the Bradbury Bruiser course for the run, skipping the last two miles on the "O" trail, which were the cause of many moans, groans and swears at the end of the race last year. We hadn't yet started our blogs last October when we ran this 12-mile course, but it's a great twisty turny course along lots of the single track through the park.

We started off at a pretty mellow pace, willing our bodies to loosen up. Snowman was not in a good mood, but we continued on. As we neared the 1:30 mark, I was getting a bit grumpy myself, as I really wasn't looking to push too hard on this run, given that I'm hoping to turn out a good run at the Pineland Farms Trail Challenge on Sunday! But Snowman was determined to get in his full 10 miles, so after a bit of grousing, I followed along, and we finished up the 10 miles in 1:44. With yesterday's hike and today's run, it was a solid weekend., which I plan to follow up with a pretty mellow rest of the week in preparation for the race.

Flora and fauna report: There wasn't much opportunity to look around along the run, as if I looked up for more than a few seconds, I was liable to either hit a root, rock or stump, or miss one of the sharp turns along the route, but I did notice plenty of starflowers, bluets, wild strawberries, and one lone ladyslipper beginning to show itself from within its leaves, along the trailside.