Running on Twinkies

I have change up my training strategy a bit lately. I am trying to avoid running on pavement and sidewalk as much as possible. Which is great because that means that I get to run trails everyday. The trails seem to be more gently and forgiving on my knees than the roads are. I ran the Mueller Park Trail again. I run this trail a lot because it is a great trail and it is very close to my house. The run felt good today and the early morning weather was great. On the way down I passed a few other runners and a few bikers. This trail is very busy during the summer. I think I will run this trail again tomorrow.

It was nice and cool this morning. I ran the Mueller Park trail again today. Just after I reached Elephant Rock a few mountain bikers showed up. I started down the trail and one of the mountain bikers started just behind me. I decided to run hard down the trail and see how long I could stay ahead of him. He was close to me a lot of the way down but never came close enough to pass me. I stayed ahead of him for the whole 3.4 miles and made it down in 23 minutes. It sure was fun to outrun a mountain biker.

I haven't had internet access for the past few days so I am catching up on my blogs. I have been camping at a family reunion at Albert Moser Campground. It is near Franklin Idaho. 

I ran up a little trail up to a ridge above the campground with a cell phone, because the was no cel phone service in the campground. I made a phone call up on the ridge, the headed back down to camp. The trail was not the best and looked as if it doesn't get used much.

My family and I rode with my parents up to the Pat Hollow Crash Site. It a place up in the Idaho mountains where in 1953 a C64 crashed with 37 passengers and 3 crew men. There were no survivors. It was my first time up to the site. My grandfather had came up here the spring after the crash and described to us the awful scene on the mountain side. There is a monument there with the names of those who died and there are few small pieces of the wreckage on the ground. 

On the way down from the crash site we can to the Skyline Trailhead. I decided to get out and run the trail which would meet back up with the road at Willow Flat campground. I had not been on this trail in several years and it was great to be on it again. For the first four miles it averages it has some severals ups and downs. The elevetion flucates between 8000 and 9000 feet. The views along the trail were great. After four miles I was at an intersection of trail and turned off of the Skyline trail to dropped down into Willow Flat campground. The trail is rough and has a lot of steep downhill. I ran up thios trail four years ago, but I was glad to be going down today. The trail drops 3500 feet in about 3 miles. I made to the campgrounrd in 1:18. I wasn't planning on running, so I was wearing levis. I did have on an old pair of running shoes but hadn't ran with them for years. The weather was very hot that day and I didn't take any water with me. My mom met me at the end of the trail and took me back to our camp. I survived the run and drank lots of water back at camp.