Day 4,150—Exploration Abounds—

 

        I am not completely sure what I mean by “Exploration abounds,” but today I deliberately chose to explore different paths instead of sticking to my usual route. This spontaneous decision led me to Brentwood Park, where I ran and enjoyed the sunrise by the pond. I initially thought I’d return to last weekend’s route, but curiosity drew me to a trail I hadn’t taken, unsure of where it would lead.

        On a lark, I headed out of the park on the unfamiliar trail. I started seeing signs that made it seem like this trail went on forever. I couldn’t seem to find the part that looked like it went for the most miles. That trail seemed to end close to a different entrance to Brentwood Park, so I wouldn’t have to turn around.

        Twice I looked for it but didn’t find it. I enjoyed the parts I did. I liked the nature trail that appears after a couple of miles. I don’t like turning around, but this trail was new to me. Seeing it one more time wasn’t a big deal. I want to go back tomorrow and find a better way to include it in my loop runs.

        Once I got back to Brentwood Park, the rest of the run was my familiar route. Originally, I was thinking that it would be nice if I could do more before getting on the Deer Creek Trail, so when I made it to where Grant’s Trail intersects with Watson, I could go home from there. When I made it to that spot, I decided to keep going. Now I wanted to do a 50K.

I took some decent breaks along the way to drink water and sports drinks. I sat outside Walgreens drinking Powerade as a crew was busy jackhammering the road to my left. I thought it was odd I wasn’t thirsty, but I knew I needed to drink. I stopped a total of three times for something to drink, and I didn’t eat any food, but I am eating now!

I might need to make some changes to my routes and plan to do more runs at Lone Elk, but that doesn’t matter today. Today I did the route I wanted to, and it was fun. I was tired at the end, but I was fine too. My big goal this run was to average 7 miles an hour. Not super-fast, but a good pace if you’re doing an ultra. This is my 21st 50K, according to Garmin. It isn’t a distance I don’t think I do a lot, but it has to be my 2nd most completed race distance. I have done more marathons than anything. I keep fearing that I will get to 250 marathons on Garmin and I won’t get points for them anymore, so I need to start routinely doing more of them.