Finally found the All American Trail I'd heard so much about. How nice that they had 2 clean port a potties to use. It took us about 30 min to get there from home, and I always need to use one.
The trail is supposed to be 11 miles long. We parked at mile 5.5. There was a group of people all taking off running at the same time when I got there. It looked like a running group. After the run, they all sat around and visited in their lawn chairs and had drinks. I was so curious and wanted to find out more about their running group, but I chickened out and didn't ask. Maybe if I see them again.
My new running shoes seemed to give me a great run. I could feel the arch support, and it felt comfortable. I did end up scuffing my ankles with my shoes quite a few times. It's not something I've done before, so I wonder if it's from the way my feet are positioned in the new shoes. I'll take the scuffed ankles over sore knees & feet any day. They're my new, cool, battle wounds. No complaints about my knees. I was so worried about them, but they're nothing more than just a little achey.
We ran 2.5 miles out in one direction and then headed back. So by mile 5, we were back at the car. Took a quick potty break and downed some sports beans. I left Mr. at the car and I took off for the other 7 miles on the other trail side.
The run was great. I felt like I was really getting my stride by mile 8-9. At mile 10, I stopped & walked while I downed a gu, then I took up the running again. There was a lot of uphill after that. The last mile was almost entirely uphill. Up a big, long hill. It kicked my butt, but I was happy with the run. I felt like I could have run a little further at the end (after it leveled out), so I'll be ready next week-end for the 14 miler. Only next week, I'm going to do the hard hill section first!
Highlights of the run: The wetland section that was all boardwalk. It was beautiful, and the boards gave a little. Like running on a floating wood floor. Also, I saw a wasp that looks like a big red ant. Very cool. Lots of neat spider webs with interesting designs in them. Good shade to keep cool (but makes it hard to see the terrain on some parts), running successfully twice across the bridge that had a big sign on it that said "unsafe bridge." And of course, no wild dogs.
I don't have my garmin right now to post my splits, however I do know that for all but one, they were between 9 and 10 mm. I'm happy with it all. It was a beautiful day for a great run.
The chinese food afterwards was wonderful too. No guilt at all! | 