Now I know why it's the City of Oaks!

I had to add up the miles Jeff and I ran today at Umstead Park- it was 10.4 miles of trail. We hadn't planned the route, so we just sort of decided to go from the Graylyn entrance all the way to Reedy Creek. Well, we got to the Reedy Creek gate, and we felt we would be shortchanged if we just ran back, so we decided to go past Graylyn trail and continue on Reedy Creek trail, past airport overlook, and about halfway to the West Gate. Jeff remarked that he couldn't believe we were starting to think that Umstead was too small...

The nice thing about running back from Reedy Creek to Graylyn was that this is the route the marathon will take. So having a good run on it was satisfying- we had met the enemy, and we could take him! The run was also longer than I had planned, and my weekly mileage was 4+3.5+10.4 = about 18 miles. This is a big jump from last week's 13 miles, and every book I've read said keep the weekly increases below 10%, but it felt good. I really felt good the whole time- there was the last hill where my HR went up to 174 per minute, and I had to stop and walk, but otherwise, everything felt great. I started to feel something in my left knee, and I have on (8 hours later) a knee brace, but I am walking straight. Nothing like the pain after the 14-miler 3 weeks ago. I thnk the new run form (heel up) is helping with my knees, and running on the trail and treadmill definitely helps. Now I have to decide if I will ever train on concrete or asphalt! I think I can train on the treadmill and in Umstead until November.

Running on trails has its unique characters- (1) you have to worry about water, (2) you meet all these other trail runners, (3) you have to contend with bikes (I haven't seen a single horse yet), and (4) you have to improvise when faced with "discharge" issues. On (1), Jeff brought a water belt for $36- it carries 6 small bottles, and I and Mia actually drank 2 of them! Mia and Anetta played water girls again, coming back to us on their bikes every 2 miles. It worked, until I and Mia used up our water, and I felt I needed gatorade. So in the last 4 miles, I drank some of Jeff's supply. It turns out there are no water stops anywhere on our route. On (2), we met a lot of runners today, it seems everybody started training for the City of Oaks marathon! Among the memorable ones- a pack of highschool girls who were so fit and lean, I felt so old :) Especially when they blew by us (doing our 11:30 pace). I told Jeff we should be prepared for lots of people passing us during the actual marathon. I am hoping I can pass at least one, so I won't be last :)

On (3), some of the bikes were going fast and kicking up a lot of dust. I think on actual marathon day, I will be breathing a lot of dust (see 2 above). On (4), well we're on a trail, you need to go, so you basically go off the trail and find a nice old tree, look up and down the trail to see if any women are coming, and you discharge some of that water you chugged. So now I figured why they call this the City of Oaks marathon- all these oaks serving as cover and as recipient of liquid during this drought :)

I probably ran faster than usual- the heel up running forces me to keep ground contact very short. And I feel good knowing I'm back to 10+ miles, and 18 miles per week. Next week, the target for the long run is 12-14 miles, and maybe 20 mpw.