The park in autumn - now covered with mud

Weather’s beginning to cooperate where I live, and I was excited that I can take my outdoors shoes out for a spin at last. It was raining all morning, but it cleared up quite a bit in the afternoon, and I was off for a nice run in the park.

There is a park with nice trails in our town and I was hoping they were at least okay in spite of weeks of snow and rain. No such luck. The trails are covered with mud and puddles even at the better maintained areas. I daren’t even venture to the less traveled paths – it looks like this route is off the map for several weeks.

So I started off on the asphalt and took a loop around the area. At times it was really pitiful because of the wind and the uphills. You don’t get those on the treadmill.

The lowdown: 8km | 52:19 | 6:32 min/km | 1137 cal (or 4.97 |  10:32 min / mi)

Notes to self:

• Running outside is definitely less boring than on the treadmill (watching out for traffic)
• Going uphill still makes my shins sore a little
• Need to invent something to reverse the wind
• Elevation, wind, asphalt, it all adds up to a more exhausting session, although at a lower heart rate

Here’s a map from http://runningahead.com