I always leave a little piece of me on the trails

Or in this case, I leave lots of little pieces of my thigh:

You know you wanted a picture

It's funny that I was so concerned about Peanut tripping me on our 5K on Saturday when I know I don't need a dog around to trip.

Trying to wave while running = huge dork

I was actually excited to get up early on Sunday (5am) to drive to run. Why was I excited? Because I was meeting all of these great people for 21 miles of fun!

After the run. I swear we looked prettier at the start...if possible

It was a gray, cool morning, the kind that makes you want to snuggle in bed and then drink hot chocolate. Or run through the mud and endless hills! 

We did the 10ish mile loop twice, which meant we had to run by this creepy thing two times:

I'm ok with everything except that baby head on a stick

Most of us took a tumble on the first loop (including me), but no one fell on the second loop. Sometimes running on the trail is like getting used to being on a boat: you need to get your "sea legs". After the first loop, we took a snack break at the cars:

The most important part of trail running

Everyone brought something, so we had an awesome "aid station" in my car. Halloween double stuff Oreos, boiled potatoes and salt, more than one kind of peanut butter and Gatorade, Coke and water. We know how to trail run. :)

It's been really wet around here lately between the hurricane and tropical storm, so some of the stream crossings were washed out. Perry and Phil tried to McGuyver a solution, but no one was brave enough to try it. We all preferred just saying a little prayer and taking a leap. 

I think we need a bigger branch

This run was really hard, but it was also really fun. Alyssa and I chatted a lot and that really made the miles fly by. Everyone else got the privilege of listening to us talk, we should charge for such entertainment. :)

At the park there was a horse event going on and we took a break to watch. It took everything I had not to yell out corrections to one girl who couldn't get her horse to take a fence over a water obstacle, but I restrained myself (She didn't even have her heels down and she wasn't collecting her horse at ALL). The rest of the group had to enjoy my commentary instead. I can't wait for Faith to be old enough to ride so I can start lobbying for a "family" horse. Yeah, I'll share....sure.

Around mile 16 we crossed a small road and Perry wanted us to all see a historical mansion up the road. It was all uphill to get there and I don't think we were suitably impressed, but we tried to fake it:

Look! A large house!

This run felt really good and other than being REALLY hungry (like growling stomach hungry), I felt like I could have kept going. We did 21 miles in 4:14, which is a 12:00 minute average pace, which is really good for a trail run, especially one as hilly and muddy as that. We barely walked at all, mostly because all the hills are little (but relentless) and it's hard to justify breaking stride to walk unless it's a big hill. 

This run wrapped up week 8 of JFK 50 training. I ran 61 miles this week, which is a new record for me! That's a lot of time on my feet, but I know it will pay off in the race. This week was a little higher than it otherwise would have been because I did that 5K on my rest day (since I didn't intend to run it as fast as I did).

No wonder I'm so hungry

What food do you usually crave after a long workout? Yesterday, it was a cheeseburger. I had one for dinner and it was as awesome as I had imagined.

Have you ever ridden a horse?

Alyssa also did a recap of this run AND she's doing a fun giveaway, so check it out!