Croom.

 Croom. I have had a love-hate relationship with that piece of land ever since my first attempt at mountain biking there. Hilly and sandy. Lots of hills. Lots of sand. A cycling nightmare by any standards. So, it sucks to bike there. Why not run then? Well, it is actually pretty sandy to run there as well. I have done it once or twice before. So, I decided to give it a go again. Last weekend was the John Holmes Trail Run. Three distance options. 50k, 16Mile, and 9 mile. As much as I really want to log a 50k, I know it is currently way out of my reach. I opted for the 9 mile - It has been a while since I have done any trail running, and I would consider it a work-up to a half marathon in Alafia Nov. 28.
Well, it started out on pavement for about a half mile before turning off into a forest road. A sandy forest road. Reminding me that yes, I am in Croom. After getting off the forest road and on trail, It was a very beautiful morning with a light fog throughout the woods. A beautiful morning to be outdoors. In the nature. Peace and quiet - almost. As luck would have it, there were two women who managed to have a similar pace as I for the first few miles. They talked the entire fucking time. Unbelievable. Nonstop gum flapping. If I only could run faster to get away. Which I eventually managed to do. I am slow by any running standards, but I do have power, so I can hold my mediocre speed on hills. That helped my escape.
All in all, I enjoyed the entirety of the run, though I did become pretty well spent by mile 6 or 7. Lots of walking at that point. By mile 8, I was ready for the finish line, but sad at the prospect of almost being done. I look forward to being able to spend more time doing longer distances out there.
So there it is. Nine miles of Croom in the books. Slow pace, but not last. Sore as hell for the next couple of days.
But last night I went for a run around the neighborhood. Wound up running over a 5k. Without stopping. That is a recent first. Running steady the entire way. When I was done, I was sweaty, but not exhausted. I had a couple of glasses of water, cooled off, took a quick shower and went to bed. No big deal. Woke up this morning feeling good and not the least bit sore. Proceeded with a reasonably good arm day in "Pete's Gym".
Really thinking about that half marathon next month in Alafia. That will be a good challenge. Meanwhile I just registered for a 10K coming up in two weeks.
Continual progress.