Monday, April 14, 2008

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.

9 comments:

  1. What a run! Great photos!!

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  2. Wisht I coulda been there baby. It looks awesome!

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  3. Woa-that sounds like a hell of a run! Good job despite your falls..

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  4. Anonymous12:12 PM

    Way to keep pushing yourself! Great pictures.

    Hey..we were in Vegas this weekend and Lake Mead looked great (a little low)...so clean! The temp was 57 on the day we left. The Rage will be such a beautiful course this weekend!! Good luck!

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  5. Sounds like a great run! Must be a great group to run with.

    Keep it up and keep the pictures coming too.

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  6. Sounds like a good group to run with..

    Looks like a great place to run..

    Great job out there..

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  7. Can I move to NM and be your adopted endurance son.

    Please!!!

    Instead of baseball games, we'll go out and do 20 milers and eat gu and powerbars together.

    We can talk, thresholds and power intervals.

    Please! Endurance "DAD"

    Great pics, thanks.

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  8. What a cool freaking view!!

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  9. Very impressive. Looks beautiful and hard. What an experience.

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