Today's Run

My long runs on Saturdays over the last month have consisted of "how far can I get in an hour?". I've been getting in 5 miles or so on each run. I do some walking here and there and in the cool down.

To get myself to run the hour, I usually give myself a destination to try and get to. Sometimes I have to run a few extra blocks close to the house to finish, but this strategy is working well enough so far.

Today, I was a little more ambitious. I wanted to see how long it would take me to get to the Y-mountain trailhead. It took me 30 minutes to do the 2 miles to the trailhead. There was a lot of uphill and I knew the return trip would be shorter, so I decided to get in at least the first couple of switchbacks.

Two switchbacks turned in to three, three into four, and soon enough I was looking at how far I could get by then end of the hour. At the end of the hour, I thought I was close enough to the bottom of the Y to finish that much of the trail. I didn't realize how far I had gotten until I was on the last two short switchbacks to the top of the Y. I had missed the split for the leg to the lower end of the Y completely. The Y is covered in snow. You can still see the Y from the valley, but being so close and at such an obscure angle the snow masks it completely.

The lower two switchbacks were only partially covered in snow. The rest of the trail entirely covered, except for a spot or two. The way going up was a slippery one; digging in my toes to get up the trail. The way down was controlled sliding - yes, i fell -- once.

Here are the final stats:
Total distance: 6.14 miles for the round trip.
Total elevation change: 1699 ft (518m)
Total time: just under 1hr 54 min
To the trail head: 1.95 miles 30 minutes
To the top of the Y: 1.12 miles 43 minutes
From the top down to the trailhead: 17 minutes
From the trailhead to home: 24 minutes


My reward: I ate awesome food at a friend's wedding reception. It was the least that I could do.