25.4 miles of trailz in 2 days

It's getting close to my goal races for the year, and my longest run since last October has been 10 miles. That's hardly a good enough base to do a 25K then a 50K then a 25K (3-Days to 100K) all in one weekend. Doing a crash course crammed in training run is probably not the best plan, but it was a necessary evil in my way of thinking.
So yesterday, my mission was 20 miles--slow easy miles--all on trailz. Dana and Jake were game to do part, so after sleeping late, eating breakfast, and filling our hydration packs, we set out.

Jake was game provided he could get some swim training in. We had a route that featured a pond per mile.

Once his fur is saturated, he is running in air conditioning.

Some days, Jake runs way ahead--but the day before, he had ran 5 miles with Dana and he only had his B-game. This meant most of the time he was running at heal, and the sides of our leg was wet with pond water. Thanks, Jake.


The trailz were great today. The little rain we had last week had left the running surface nice and soft. The high for the day was in the low 80s, but the humidity was low. I sweat, but barely. Even in the thick woods, there was a decent breeze.

We took Jake home after 5 miles, ate some lunch, and headed back out for more miles. Dana had only a water bottle for this loop, and after draining it, had to share water from my Camelback. She was worried we'd run out of water, but we had plenty.

She finished her day with 10 miles, and I refilled and headed out for 10 more.

My plan was to run the Half and Half Marathon course, which is 6.5 miles of the easiest trail on the mountain. I skipped the first section and headed to the Westside Y where I'd turn around and run the entire course backwards. The walking breaks were becoming LESS frequent due in part to the easier course, and the zombie shuffle was working to perfection. I just kept clicking off 14 minute miles.

This is the last picture I took on my run. With about 2 miles to go, I ran out of water. I had some shortcut options in place, but ended up staying the course until the parking lot where I gulped water from the drinking fountain there. I still needed a few tenths, and took a short half mile loop which popped back out on the lower Powerline trail, and then headed home. I finished with 20.01 miles--how's that for good planning?

Sunday morning, the alarm clock went off at 6:50. I intended to get up and run with the Sunday morning TOTs. I thought about it and turned the alarm clock off. Then Jake barked to tell us he needed out to pee. So I got up, let him out, had my morning pee, started the coffee, let Jake back in, thought more about running, and then went back to bed. Then the recurring alarm sounded. (I hit snooze instead of turning it off. ) I had 15 minutes to get there, so I hopped out of bed, got dresses, and headed out to run.

Sarah and I pose to show off our matching scars. We both had creatures removed from our foreheads this past week. My scar is bigger than hers!! :-P As it turned out, Stormy was there and led the group. I tucked in at the back of the pack, and held on for dear life. I stayed within sight--actually staying up for much of the run--and had the best trail run I've had in a while. 5.4 miles in 1:04. I really think I am back.