Black Warrior Training Run

Eric Fritz invited me to join him and Eric Charette for a run over in Bankhead National Forest on the Black Warrior 50k course. The race director organizes some training runs over there in the weeks leading up to the race. So, we met up with a few other runners at the Warrior Mountain Trading Post at the intersection of Hwy 33 and Hwy 36 just south of Moulton. Hanging out in the store waiting for other runners reminded me of days past in old country stores. Southern people have a charm and hospitality unmatched anywhere else! It was good to finally meet Dan Burleson and put a face with the name and the blog.

I had only ever run the 25k portion of the course, so it was good to see parts of the course that I haven't seen before. It's possible that I'll return there next week to run the remaining portion of the course that I haven't seen. We ran the blue and the orange loops today. The orange loop is on the 25k course, so it wasn't new to me. But it was good to see it again since it's been almost a year.

There were a couple of creek crossings that were mid-shin deep. I dreaded crossing those. The dread proved warranted! COLD!

I really like these trails. They're a nice change of pace from Monte Sano trails. They are not nearly as rocky, and the rocks aren't slick, even when wet. The elevation change isn't nearly as extreme. And slush mile at its worst has nothing on the constant barrage of shoe-sucking (Eric Fritz literally lost a shoe in the mud and had to look for it!) whitish brown mud on these trails. The scenery on these trails is amazing, too.

I'm pretty excited about the race and I'm hoping I can have a good day that day.