LM warmup (10 reps), 27.12 miles in 4:43:19, 10:26/mi, HR 143, 3750' elevation gain, & stretching. Cloudy and nice (upper 50s/lower 60s) . Set out up Scott Turner road onto Road 8 to intersect the Anvil Trail, down to the Upper Elk Spur Trail, Buck Creek Trail to Lower Elk Spur Trail, over to the Bull Run Trail, back up to the Upper Elk Spur Trail, up to the other half of the Anvil Trail, back down Road 8 and onto Scott Turner and home. About 9 miles of roads, 9 miles of logging roads & 9+ miles of a wide variety of singletrack. The first half of the Upper Anvil ran through some older clear-cut so it was pretty wide but with lots of obstacles to watch out for. The first part of the Upper Elk Spur was fairly packed single-track with some spots nearly overgrown and others clear because it ran along a ridge. Lots of climbing and descending on that one. Buck Creek was downhill but slow because it was so overgrown I could barely see the trail in spots and there were plenty of rocks and roots waiting to trip me. Then when the foliage cleared, the trail became deep loose dirt and mud....fun! The Lower Elk Spur was more of the same with a couple of stream crossings. I'd run Bull Run last week, but this week I went up so much of it was hiking, running the less steep sections and the infrequent flats. Footing here was pretty decent. Back onto the Upper Elk Spur, this section was nasty as it ran through a recent logging area and trail markings were a mess, but I made it back to the uphill section in one piece and managed to run/hike back to the other end of the Anvil Trail. Pleasant for a while, it turned ugly running through an old clearcut with a gazillion sticks of all shapes and sizes on the ground. Not picking up your feet wasn't an option here as the sticks kept lodging one end against the front of my rear foot and the other dug into the ground, forming an excellent tripping mechanism that nearly sent me down about every 5 steps. But I survived the really nasty stretch and gradually climbed back to the 8 road, then did my best to maintain a decent pace back home. The trail stretch was pretty tiring. I could only manage about 12-13 minute miles on the flats/downhills, mostly because any faster and I would've taken some nasty falls and my wife made me promise to come back today. On the uphill legs, things were even slower, with the slowest being a 17:25 minute mile. By the time I got to the downhill stretch home, it was about all I could do to hit 7-8 minute miles, even in sections where I'd normally hit 6-7 minute miles. So you could say the legs were trashed. But it was a great way to spend a beautiful day, and I hope the legs start adjusting to this abuse so they don't have to send search parties out for me at the WR50. That would be embarrassing. | 