A trail marked "UH OH"

I returned to the trails this morning to continue my training for the 8/23 race. I now know that the Dirty Sock 10K course is fairly flat compared with Stillwell Woods so I figured that the more rugged terrain at Stillwood would be helpful in terms of developing leg strength. I decided to bring my iPhone along and I listened to the Tiesto Club Life podcast (per a suggestion from a commenter on my blog - thanks anonymous!) using the AKG K321 in-ear headphones. They work great and I kept the sound low enough to detect the sound of the many mountain bikers that I encountered during my run. I liked the mix a lot more than the Podrunner podcasts and I took some different routes than ever before. There are so many twists and turns and ups and downs through Stillwell that I believe you could run it 50 times and not cover every trail. At one point I encountered a particularly scary descent that was marked with a sign that said "UH OH" (see above). I took the bait and with my trusty NB 460's I had little trouble with that long sharp decline. The path wound around and took me through a short paved area that led to a trail marked "No Trespassing" so I doubled back and found a different route that led me through some sandy trails that led further to a large construction site.

I turned back and switched the MotionX to compass mode and redirected north. I was hoping that after looking at the KMZ files from the run that I would get a good idea where I traveled but the files didn't work on Google Earth although they do show the course on the iPhone itself. Some of the trails I navigated were so steep that I had to slow to a walk a few times. I was very pleased with myself at one point when I encountered a couple of guys also running the trails who reached a sharp incline and proceeded to walk it while I breezed by running. They may have already covered a lot of distance and had hit the wall but all the same it was better to be the passer than the passed. I ended up running about 4.25 miles and my pace wasn't too impressive but the workout was daunting. After my cool-down I stayed and watched a few minutes of an adult league flag football game that was being played where I'd parked my car. It looked like fun but I'll leave that for the very fit 20-somethings I saw on the field.

After yesterday's run with Dave and today's rigorous run at Stillwell I'm feeling good about the upcoming race. I'm thinking of getting the Garmin 405 beforehand so I'll have a reliable GPS device to help capture the run. Either way I can't wait to hit the trails again.