Rather interesting run this morning. Crackheads met at Pinnacle Mountain Visitors Center, not my favorite place to run, but doable hills, or so I thought. Got there late but found a copy of the 16-mile route, which is what I wanted, so I grabbed it and took off. Brief perusal found a couple of roads I wasn't familiar with, but anyway.
First 8-9 miles were all over familiar territory, then I turned onto Highway 300, first time out there. It was OK, a little busy but adequate shoulders. Then I turned onto Roland Heights Road and immediately discovered how it got that name. I was looking up a ski slope. Made my way to the top, ran back down the other side, then turned onto Barrett Road. Barrett was OK, boring but OK. Then I turned onto Twin Bluff Loop -- another ski slope. Got up, back down the other side, back on to Barrett for an out-and-back. More routine boring country road stuff except for the two loose dogs that had me a little nervous for 200 yards or so, but all bark and no bite.
Got back to 300 and crossed over to re-enter the park at the East entrance. I see the words "Base Trail" on the route sheet, so I find a park map and locate the entrance to Base Trail about 100 yards down the drive. Turn on to Base Trail and I find ... rocks and roots. Lots of rocks and roots. And I'm wearing lightweight trainers, certainly nothing designed for trail running. Pick my way through the rocks and roots, take a couple of wrong turns, double back to find the trail again and make my way around the base of the mountain, a mile and a half or so to Pinnacle Valley Drive, then back to the visitors center (which is straight uphill for the last .75).
Garmin cut out somewhere on Base Trail; I was surprised it lasted that long because I had neglected to fully charge. So I don't know the exact mileage or the exact time, but with the doublebacks and the fact Tom's courses tend to be long anyway, I'm estimating 16.5. Might have been more. I think it took just about 3 hours, but picking my way through the rocks and roots slowed me down a bunch, not to mention those ski slopes. Good run, good weather, no sprained ankles or face plants, and I finished before they sent out the cavalry to look for me. There were raindrops on my windshield when I got back to the car, but not a one of them hit me in the whole three hours.
Good news on the college boy front. He went to a Japanese cultural festival last night, being the Nipponphile he is, and was pleased to find a kid named Grant that he had met at Orientation. He also met with his peer counselor Friday evening, so he had two things going last night, thus no sitting around the dorm moping. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he's finally starting to settle in and this overwhelming anxiety will be a thing of the past. Meanwhile, Pam and her mom are going to Memphis this afternoon to see her brother's son play in a national kid baseball tournament, but I'm staying here to work on hospital privilege applications.
Also found out that one of my new co-workers in NWA is married to a girl who lived on my street in Arkadelphia. Talk about a small freaking world. Unbelievable. | 