Return to Blanton

25 Mar 2009 - Ridgeline trail @Blanton; Eugene Had a really stellar run today on Blanton. It is the first time I've been back running there in a while, as I had suspected it's steep ups and downs were much more stressful on my knee. It's been raining a lot, and it is probably the trail that fares the best in the Ridgeline system - least mud. So, with that, I just told myself to walk the really steep sections, and I was off. I'm still kind of amazed, but I set the fastest time I've recorded there! And that was with walking some parts. Time was only about 20 seconds faster, but again, with some walking, and so on, I'm quite surprised. I took no pee break, so that helps a bit, and didn't spend much time at the turn around point. I did stop to mess with both shoes. I felt slow on some sections, but I felt like I was flying on one of the last sections towards the end. This section of speed was I fully believe made possible by the song playing on my iPhone "_Just Say It_ by Sleepthief with Kyoko Baertsoen":http://www.last.fm/music/Sleepthief/_/Just+Say+It+featuring+Kyoko+Baertsoen. It starts off pretty mellow, but about 1/3rd of the way in it's reached this state where it sounds like it's constantly on the verge of climax, and gives you the feeling you are just about at the finish line. It was pretty wild I have to say. Really cool, and I was bummed when the song ended and I wasn't done! It was about 50 degrees today, cloudy, couple rain drops here and there. I wound up wearing Nike DryFit tights, Icebreaker GT 180 zip top, and even my gloves. Gloves were probably overkill (and they were pretty soggy at the end), but my hands get cold easily. All that was ideal as it turned out. All in all, very very happy to have had such a good run here, as this really is my favorite trail in Ridgeline. I will have to see how my knee feels tomorrow, but so far, pretty much nothing - just some mild muscle ache in both legs, and just feels like regular soreness from harder effort. Nice.