Week 10: Trail Time

This week has been very busy with work and running. Weekly mileage at this point is up to 45 miles. Other than my pesky right hip/IT band, I'm feeling awesome.

Today I ran my first really long run on the trails at Saugatuck State Park. The weather was perfect and the scenery was refreshing. For my first hour, I hit up a longer trail that looped out to the lake and back. Once getting out to the lake and looking back at where I had ran, I was in awe of what I had covered and the beauty of the area. Don't get me wrong...there were several points in the run where I was cursing the humongous sandy dunes and wondering where I was at. After getting back to the parking lot and taking my GU and water, I was back at it for my second hour. I took a shorter trail that quickly took me directly to the beach. I decided that this was such a perfect day that I'd run barefoot down the beach for 30 minutes. I think the few people I saw probably thought I was crazy. Here is this extremely sweaty girl, wearing just her sports bra and running shorts, with her shoes wrapped around her neck! The beach felt really nice since the wind was cooler out there and it gave my feet a change of pace. After that, I put my shoes back on, and got lost for the last 30 minutes of my run. By the time I got back to my car I was sick of the sand dunes. I didn't really feel that tired after running for 2 hours...just dirty and thirsty.

This run has given me some insight to how the marathon might go. Thankfully, Zach says there is no sand dunes on that course, so I won't die. It will be hard, there is no denying that, but I'm excited to see how fast I could run a "trail" marathon.

Next week, mileage will still be at 45. Hopefully my right side won't take a toll from this long run.

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