Green Jello with Carrots

Tasty...growing up, this was my moms choice
of desserts. 

My legs are feeling wobbly tonight...kind of like a big old mold of green jello with bits of peeled carrots scattered throughout. I took on my twenty mile run today.

I set out to vanquish the course that has plagued me twice. The first time, I almost froze to death on the course. The second time, I gave blood the day before and that wasn't a wise decision. I was out for pay back.

I almost postponed my twenty to next week because I have had this chest congestion and cough that are related to allergies. I knew however, if I postponed the run, I probably wouldn't get it done. I donned my running clothes first thing this morning, took the kids to school and headed to the starting spot.

Instead of parking at the top of the hill at the point of the mountain, I parked at the 6 mile spot at the bottom of the route. This was going to be my midway point. I chose to run up to the top of the mountain first thing while my legs were fresh. The weather was perfect. It was a little chilly to start with, but once I got out in the sun, I warmed up really quick. I'm glad I left the jacket in the van. About two miles into the trail I passed by the dinosaur. It had been decorated with Easter Eggs with some large ones underneath. I wondered if this was the Prehistoric Easter Bunny. Maybe the Prehistoric people didn't have bunnies so instead of bunnies pooping out easter eggs, they had dinosaurs.

At mile 5.5 I reached the end of the gate. I was planning on running another 1/2 mile past the gate to where I usually park, but they had some pretty big signs blocking the gate. I turned around at this point and headed back down the hill. Another trail splits off this one and since I was a little a head on my projected distance so I took this alternate route to see if it would add a little length by the time it looped back. It only added a 1/4 mile. Arriving back to my starting spot I explored a few other roads to get the distance in before connecting up to a trail that continues north.

I turned around at mile 17.75 to go back to the van. I got back with a little more than 1/2 left so I zig zagged a little and ran around the park to get in the last 1/2 mile. In the end, my time was 2 hours 50 minutes putting my average pace around 8:30. I'm pushing for an 8:11 average at the Salt Lake City Marathon so this was encouraging.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with some friends for a casual 7.5 to 8 mile run.