Sunday Sixer

This morning I had a great six mile run. 

I'm starting to prepare for the Army Ten miler, by doing long runs and this was my first one.  I haven't run 6 miles in years, but it was a great run.  It was cool this morning, so I was in no hurry to get out at the butt crack of dawn and waited until about 7:30 to get up. 

Several people I know run on the NCR trail a twenty mile gravel trail that extends from Baltimore area to the Pennsylvania line.  I favorite of runners and bikers alike.  I've never been to it, but decided since I'm starting to increase my distances, I'd give it a try. 

All I can say is AWESOME!  

Who wouldn’t like running on this trail? It is marked every mile, has porta-potties in several places, is closed to motorized vehicles, is a nice paced gravel trail that is basically flat, and has some great scenery along the way.  I only ran the first 3 miles of the trail but am looking forward to seeing the rest.

I had my watch, but didn’t always mark my miles, so here is my first half (32:49), and the finish (1:05:59).  one entire second faster than my intended time.  lol.  I was shooting for an 11 min/mile pace and was almost on the money.   The run also felt great, I took a couple of short walk breaks, but not because I really needed them, more because I wanted to enjoy the scenery. 

Several weeks ago, I had some Ebay bucks to spend before they expired so I hopped on and won a Camelbak FlashFlo and tried it out for the first time today.  I love it. it takes some getting used to because the pack goes on your backside, sitting on your waist. You have to be sure and tighten it enough, or the pack will bounce around. Otherwise, I hardly noticed it, and holds more than enough water.  And with it being at your waist, you don’t get that annoying sweaty backpack syndrome.   For those of you that need a lot of water like me, I’d highly recommend one.

Now it’s time to relax and enjoy the rest of my weekend!