I slept in until 7:15 today (hurrah, Labor Day!), then ran the dog around the block, ate my oatmeal (complete with James' awesome peaches), and headed out to the River Trail. From the River Trail parking lot, I did a route I haven't ran in awhile: River Trail to the single track, then took the upper route of the single track ("Bridger Lookout"), which goes to the rock fall above Spring Hollow. Ran/stumbled down the steep rockfall about a third of a mile to the Crimson trailhead, and then ran the entire Crimson Trail. I was particularly happy because I was able to make it up the ascent without walking at all, except for when I bumped into Logan Fielding's wife and mother-in-law and stopped to talk to them for a while. I had the top of the Crimson Trail to myself, and enjoyed the nice, rolling single track before descending back down to River Trail just above Guineva Malibu Campground. I didn't bother going to the campground, but just ran back on the River Trail. On the last bit of single track coming back on the River Trail some mountain bikers came up behind me, which lit a fire under my butt for some reason, and I started cranking to keep ahead of them. Mission accomplished, I made it to the end of the single track ahead, and then let up. It was a nice little spurt, and proved once again that legs are better than wheels. I passed Drew Michener near the end of my run and stopped to talk to him for a little bit. He was just beginning the same route as me, except he was going to go the other way (probably a smart idea). Caught the 9-minute guy during the last mile, and finished the run averaging 8:53/mile. Considering the route contains a lot of rocky, steep single track, and has 1400' of total relief between the trailhead and the summit (with plenty of ups and downs in the middle), I was pretty happy with that, and felt really good today. (Hardrock: 63 miles)
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