Manzano Trail Run

It was my plan to do a 50K training run today and it didn’t quite turn out the way I had planned. I went out with a group of folks who run together a lot and are very good runners. As a matter of fact the slowest person in the group, other than me, runs about a 3:05 marathon. The other thing is that the trail was very difficult, lots of snow, lots of rocks, lots of elevation and a few other things like mud, tree branches, fallen trees, wild rose (think thorns) and heavy underbrush to contend with.

The run began with a long uphill and the majority of snow was also there. I kept falling behind because the group was too fast but they would wait up for me at various points on the trail. I got lost once to the point that I had to back track three or four times in order to pick up the trail and try and work out where the group had gone. I had a good time but it took a long time, 4 hours and 24 minutes to be exact…to run 14.74 miles.

Needless to say I decided not to run back to the start in order to get in the 50K. I had the will to do it but I was simply not fast enough to make it back before the sun went down and I would have held up the three others who did run back. In retrospect it is a good thing I didn’t head back for the 50K because I am plenty sore enough today and I did get in a lot of running time and kept my heart rate right where it should have been.

All in all it was a great run, awesome workout and beautiful day for a mountain run. If they will have me back I will be back. This group will make me a stronger runner for sure.