When You're on a Roll.....

 

Weird guy in Greenland

Keep rolling, right?

Just wrapped up a 52 mile week with an excellent trail run yesterday down in the Greenland Open Space. It was originally supposed to be an 8 miler, but with a wrong turn and a detour plus a bit of an add-on, it became 11. It went really well while I was in-run, but sure sucked last night and today. Sore. But sore means...... what? Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, I suppose.

I guess I can't complain. Since the week of June 8, every one has been 40 miles minimum, with the exception of two where I backed off and used them as recovery weeks. My knee, while far from perfect, is for the most part, pain free. Yeah, I get little jolts every now and then, and tightness and stability can be challenging, but gone are the day of pops and buckles. If you're unsure about a pop OR a buckle, go here: https://runspittle.blogspot.com/2020/09/pops-and-buckles-what-happens-to-my-knee.html.

At this point 70-80% of all running is on trail/dirt. It's obviously much softer, but mostly everywhere that has trail/dirt as a surface is nicer, prettier, and less stressful that the concrete. The best "local" spots for these ventures is the singletrack from Tagawa down to Cottonwood and all of the side trips, the East West Trail either side of I-25, Hidden Mesa, and one of my favorites Bayou Gulch. 

Bayou Gulch is a nice constantly rolling trail South of Parker. It's pretty much up to you how far
you go as there are trail offshoots and loops all over the place. Last Saturday, it was good for 10 miles, which was nothing compared to the young woman who was logging multiple versions of the big loop (3+ miles). I'm guessing she was in the 13-16 range.

Tubbs Hill

Also made up for a terrible run on Tubbs Hill in Coeur d'Alene with a great one a few weeks ago. I love approaching the Hill with some miles along the Spokane River to make sure everything is working. Then it up we go. Most of Tubbs Hill (which is a 2+ mile loop) is surrounded by Lake Coeur d'Alene. Most of it is fairly easy trail, but there are some pockets of moderately technical rock/root stuff to make it interesting. For more interest, at any given time it's going either up or down. One of my favorite spots.

As far as the "racing" scene goes, I have the Boulderthon (either the 5 or 10K) at the end of September and the Mt Tam Trail Race in early November. Might be a Turkey Trot in there somewhere and who knows, maybe a Jingle run.

SOOOO, that's my story. Just rolling along.

Run on.