Another Day

Today's weather was perfect for running. I started late, so the temps were in the 40's and the sun was shining when I started my run. My NF Arnuva Boa's were still wet from yesterday's run, so I wore my Five Fingers. About a mile into the run, I ran by three guys and one of them looked familiar. It was Michael, Drew, and Patrick from Memphis Ultra. We chit chatted a bit and Michael said they had started the day at 4am (it was past 1030) and they were finishing a 30 mile run...and all three still looked fresh! Damn young kids! You guys make me feel old (and slow)! We said our goodbyes and continued running our separate ways. Within the next mile I run into Kevin Dorsey and John Manley! What are the chances of meeting up with five other ultrarunners by chance?

Back to the run...
I parked at the ranger's station and ran past the kite area to hit the end of the trails under Walnut Grove. Once past the bridges, I hit the blue trail. By mile #2, I had given up trying to stay out of the mud and by mile #2.2 there was no hope of keeping my feet dry. The blue trail soon became an open area with a lot of standing water. I hopped, skipped, and jumped my way up to the white trail for, what I hoped, would be dry ground. Within the next mile, I was back in the mud and water. And by mile #4, I gave up and turned around.

Once back to the gravel "road", I turned down it and thought I would give the yellow trail a try. This turned out to be a great choice and my run continued on dry ground.



My 11 year old step-son wanted to run tonight, so we hit the streets about 1630. He survived 1.3 miles and had to turn around. I escorted him back to the neighborhood and sent him on his way. I was feeling lightfooted and wanted to run more. The sun was going down and so were the temps. Since I was only wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt, I figured I best keep the run under an hour. I went to the golf course and ran the cart paths around the periphery and them back home. I would bet money that there are more hills on the golf course than at Bartlett Park! It was an easy run and felt great.