Trails & Cocktails: It's always muddy in Philadelphia

Saturday Workout: Long trail run

12.1 miles @ 12:45 pace

Time: 2:34

Elevation gain: 1,734 feet

Strava app for iPhone, aka my new best friend.

Yesterday I went for a long run in Wissahickon Valley Park, which is part of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park system. Philly has the largest city owned park system in the world, comprising of about 10% of the land within the city (source). It's amazing, because I can manage to do all my long runs inside the city limits and never get bored.

Overall, my 12 mile run was fantastic. It was very muddy from Friday's rain, but it was the fun kind of mud (call me crazy.) No falls, minus one close call while crossing the creek. I had plenty of energy, and ate one bag of Honey Stingers (half a bag each hour) to keep me going. However, it's a bit frustrating to me as a long-time road runner to see my paces over 12 min/mile. During my fastest marathon, I ran 9:30 min/miles, at a much farther distance. I need to keep reminding myself that running on trails is totally different, especially when you add a 1,734 elevation gain. Most of my road races were done on flat terrain. It's crazy how much more exhausting running 12 miles on muddy, hilly trails is than running 20 miles on flat pavement.

I thought about describing this run in further detail, but I took a bunch of pictures and they speak enough on their own. Enjoy!