Early Morning Long Run

Ran 23.8 miles @ 9:50 mile pace.
AHR/MHR - 132/157
Trails.
Extremely hilly.
Mid 40s to start, mid 60s at finish.

I rolled out of bed at 2:30am and slammed two cups of coffee and was off to meet James and Steve at Pineland Farms to get in a long trail run. They are both also running in the Vermont 100, and we started at 4am which is the same time the race will start in three weeks.

My plan was to get in at least 20 miles at a nice and slow 12:00/mile pace, but it ended up being faster than that which I was fine with. My legs felt fresh with the light week I've had this week, so it worked out well that way. We walked a few of the steeper uphills, but not that many.

James and Steve were terrific company and we had a lot of fun on the trails talking about the race, trail running in general, folks we know, and all that good stuff. The sun got higher in the sky and the deer flies came out, but they weren't as bad as they were the other day. It was definitely tolerable, and they were slow moving enough where I was actually able to kill quite a few. Also worth noting that we saw a deer and a rather large sized hawk.

At close to 8am, we ran back to the parking lot to meet up with Ian and Emma who joined us for a bit. After a few more miles, I reached my goal with distance and bid everyone farewell and headed back to my car. James and Steve were going for 8 hours, and I was tempted to go longer, but decided against it. Definitely a good run.