Quick Update

I broke 60 miles for only the second time in my running career this week. And it almost didn't happen!

After the early Wednesday morning run on the MHM course, I left to go visit my sister up in the rural hills of eastern Tennessee about an hour south of Knoxville. Just down the road there is a nice hilly neighborhood. There was a 5 mile loop that I ran twice for a 10 miler. It was a very scenic run with some nice views of Smoky foothills and Tellico Lake and a very nice golf course.

Then, on Friday, I did some hill work in that same neighborhood. There was a steep hill that I remembered from Thursday. It gains about 60 feet in about 0.12 miles. I repeated that 8 times.

Saturday is usually my long run day. I planned to get up and visit that same neighborhood for a 10-15 miler. But when the alarm went off I just didn't have the energy. I already had 50 miles in for the week and just didn't want to run, so I didn't.

On the way home, my friend Scott called me and asked if I wanted to run the new section of the rails to trails in Limestone county. Apparently, the grand opening for this section was today. I had never run any of this trail except for the portion on the Elkmont Rails to Trails 10k, so I wanted to go. I was so glad Scott called! It was a nice 12 mile run from Piney Chapel Road up past Elkmont and back. We mixed in a couple of tempo miles, too. There is also some very pretty scenery on this trail. And to think, I was going to waste this day with no running and be satisfied with 50 miles. Thanks, Scott.

What a great resource this trail is! As I work back into 20+ mile runs later this year, I'll definitely remember this trail.