The weekend started on Friday morning for me. We were taking our daughter college on Saturday, so I moved some things around so my long run could be on Friday.
I was either going to run at Percy Warner Park in Nashville or Chickasaw Park in Columbia. The weather forecast showed a 70 percent chance of rain in Nashville or 0 percent in Columbia. So, I chose to run Chickasaw.
My run started with overcast skies and 75 degrees. So I was feeling pretty good as I started down the trail leading to the woods. Than I remembered that it was a mountain biking trail and was unsure what to expect. Initially my run consisted of clearing a spider web every 15 to 20 feet. This was not bad except for when the spider was in the middle of their web. Then the zero percent chance of rain became 100% and things on the trail became nasty.
Some sections of the trail are kept up by different individuals and they each can determine the level of difficulty ranging from one to three. When the level is 3 and it says expert, one should not attempt to run it. I tried a few of them and fell down the hills and ended up running the easier route.
I ended up jogging the first lap and walking most of the second lap.
Felt like this guy that I found on the trail.
Although I thought I had enough fuel, I ran out of water and electrolytes around mile 12.
Since Friday’s run did not complete the distance I needed, I felt pretty good about the elevation gain that it showed. I still felt like I needed to get miles in so I went for a run Saturday night after returning from Covenant College in Chattanooga. The run felt pretty fast although my legs felt pretty tired. adding to the elevation as well.
Then, I decided to see what was left in the tank or what the legs could handle for a third day in a row. Well, it almost totaled 26.2 miles over the three days. Brought the water and Nuun drinks with me. Pretty fun.
Country Road Runner 