Nice Run In The Mud At Renaissance Park

Temperatures got into the 50s today and it was time for a lunchtime trail run at Renaissance Park. With the upside of beautiful weather in the dead of winter comes the downside - melting ice turning into mud. The trails were generally okay but there were very slippery spots. Last week amid the cold spell, some mud tracks from mountain bikes froze and made it easy to get good footing. Today it was all turning to mush. All in all it made it challenging and I felt good. No unexpected falls just a few little slips that I recovered from and kept pushing forward.

I just got a pair of Inov-8 X-Talon 212s and decided not to wear them today because I wanted to run with my ten pound hypervest. I stuck with my trusty old Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultras. I did not want to run in brand new unfamiliar shoes with additional weight on me. I wore a Brooks loose long sleeve running shirt under the vest and then wore a tee-shirt over the vest. The plan was to keep the vest clean just in case of a spill. The extra weight added momentum to my downhills and I attacked the uphills the way I usually do turning in a time of 23:18:04 for the trail that is just shy of 3 miles. It was actually better than my time from last week without the vest. Now that I am back to being more familiar with the trail I hesitated much less in different areas which accounted for my improved time over last week. I am especially happy that I improved my time even with the added weight and with the muddy trail. My personal best is 22:19 from back in early November of last year on a 65 degree day and I know I can beat that the way I am feeling now.

I think tomorrow I will go back and do it again as the temperatures are expected to hit the 60s. I've got to enjoy it while I have it. My X-Talons look so nice and new, I almost hate to get them dirty but it has to happen sooner than later.