Why Did the Turtle Cross the Trail?

Well the answer should be obvious. He (she?) was on one side of the trail when I passed in one direction and had managed to cross over when I came back.

I'm really psyched about today's hike. I hit the 15 mile mark at 5 hours and 18 minutes. I kept a running clock all day so this includes stopping to take photos, a stop at the restroom and some stretch stops. The SSH is 29.6 miles with a 12 hour time limit. At today's pace I have an hour and a half to spare. And I have 13 months left to train. Plenty of time to get stronger on hills. I'm pretty excited. Here's the Garmin info. The map is not a very good representation of how much fun I had.

The best is that I felt good most of the way. Hydration and fuel were not a problem. I didn't quite pass the pee test at my restroom break but it was only a borderline fail. And could very well be due to the fact that I waited waaaaaay too long to stop. I did the first 1.5 hours with Arti while Michael M and Rajiv ran. My plan was to leave them and go up Mount Misery from Yellow Springs Road down the other side to route 23 then over the Washington's HQ to stop at the rest room. But as I started up the mountain, I started wandering on trails I hadn't been on before. I ended up coming down the same side I started on. I could have climbed over Mount Joy then to HQ. But as I came off the trail there was another one calling me across the street. I ended up circling this gigantic meadow. There was a wide mowed path all the way around just begging to be walked. I wasn't sure if I was still on park property but I didn't see any no trespassing signs so I kept going. I saw this beautiful buck standing in the middle of the meadow.

The camera on the phone has a horrible zoom. But trust me it looked like a commercial for that insurance company.

So I blame the wandering on my inner 9 year old. :) and by the time I finally did get to the restroom it was 2 hours later. My pace was a bit slower just before that. It's hard to hike well when your legs and eyes are crossed.

The only true negative today was forgetting to stop and stretch out my back earlier. About 9-10 miles in my back started to ache. I really should have stopped to stretch it sooner. Especially since I was walking a lot of flat between miles 7-10. My back loves to climb. On flats I have to stop frequently to stretch. When I got off the Chapel Trail (after the rest room break) and climbed Mount Joy back to the car my back responded beautifully to the stretch of my hamstrings and lowering of my center of gravity. Seriously I felt like a new person.

I thought I was going to be going up and down joy and across the chapel trail repeatedly to get my time in today. That would have been OK I enjoy them all but instead I wandered on new trails. And despite the delayed bathroom break I I had a blast today!

Keep smiling and keep moving. :)