On a High After My First 20k Trail Run!
I am pretty dang stoked right now, as I managed to do 12.24 miles of trail running on the Ridgeline trails this afternoon. Previously my longest run had been the 8.5 mile Gorilla Thrilla, so this was a nice jump up. From about mile 5, I was clearly on the running high, because as I thought about it, I just got goose bumps with excitement. I had gone out only thinking I'd do 9-10 miles (so I did know I was going to try to go longer than I had before), and it wound up being even longer.
I started at the Blanton trail head of Eugene's Ridgeline trails. Through the rolling singletrack, to the Willamette trail head, up the steep hills there, and down to Fox Hollow trail head. Did a loop around Fox Hollow, then headed back the way I came. When I got to the intersection where I'd go right to head over to Willamette, I thought I needed a smidge more in order to get an even 10 miles, so I stayed on the trail toward Spencer Butte. I figured I'd just go a ways up, but then I was getting closer and closer to the junction with the main Spencer Butte trail. As I neared it and prepared to turn around before, I came across a hiker. Well, I couldn't just pass this guy and 10 feet later turn around, so kept going. This was good anyway, as I was clearly taking longer than I'd told my wife I'd be out, so at the top I sent her a quick text. I have a bit of a history of bike crashes and so on, so I like to keep her knowing I'm safe :)
Anyway, from there, it was running back down one of my favorite sections of these Ridgeline trails, and then forking off back towards Willamette, and finally on the Blanton section. I'd expected Blanton to be a real beotch at this point, but wow, I ran more of the hills there than I would even if I was purely doing just a Blanton run! Awesome. Back at the car, I snapped this photo for evidence:
It was a really nice day weather wise, 65 degrees, sunny (but these trails stay nice and protected by the trees). The grasses are out in force, and did majorly irritate me, but I didn't really notice until I was home. I drank nearly all of an Ultimate water bottle (20oz?), and had a Hammer gel. Perfect. It's a few hours later now, and I do feel the run a bit, but not even as much as I'd expect. I think my goal of doing a half marathon by year's end is clearly attainable.
