Thought about running a 5k race today but didn't feel mentally ready for a race so I decided to head up to Mueller Park canyon and run up to Elephant Rock. It's 3.5 miles from the start of the trail to Elephant Rock and climbs about 900 feet. As I started out, I wasn't feeling all that great and was glad that I ddin't run a race because I definitely was not in the right state of mind. After warming up, I felt a lot better and started to really enjoy the run. I started out on the heels (or should I say pedals) of a couple of mountain bikers so I stopped for a minute to let them get ahead of me. Caught back up to them after a few minutes and stopped again to let them gain some ground. I didn't see any point in passing them because they would be able to fly by me on the flats and downhills. Towards the top, the trail got a little sloppy and was slushy in some spots but was still a lot of fun. Caught the mountain bikers one last time right before I got to Elephant Rock. Stopped for a couple of minutes at the top to enjoy the view. Running back down was great and I started to push the pace once I was comfortable with the downhill trail running. I wish I had started doing this earlier in the year. It was a lot of fun and reminded me of the reason why I started running. I started getting burned out always thinking about the next marathon or making sure that I follow the right schedule and am running the right pace every run. This was a great Thanksgiving day run. | 