Week 6: Day 4 - February 09, 2017

• hilly trail RUN (part 1) with one dog = 3.6 miles; time = 45:26; average pace @ 12:37
• hilly trail RUN (part 2) with one dog = 1.1 miles; time = 14:44; average pace @ 13:24
• easy WALK with three dogs = 2.6 miles

For a month and a half to two months, I had been avoiding my hill runs because of all the rains that we had been getting during this time frame. There are three hilly (mountains in my mind) trail runs that I can do, one which I normally/mainly do when I'm training for a half marathon. The other two when I'm training for a 10k and at the beginning of my training for a half marathon....sometimes for fun. I know that one trail (at a local junior college) is still muddy for a few days after rain. I never attempted the other two after rain (until today at least for the really short one), so I never knew how muddy they got. The last time that I did the hilly trail run at school after rain, it was only muddy in certain spots. It was muddy everywhere on that trail this morning and I was so mad/frustrated. Running on hills is already challenging enough. I generally don't like to run in mud. It is slippery and I don't want to pull a muscle. I also don't like the added weight on my shoes. If I am going to walk or run with extra weight like from wearing a weight vest or something similar, I want to do it on my own terms. I had to stop twice because my shoes got heavy and it made my legs more tired. I almost fell forward going down a hill because one of my shoes almost got stuck in the mud. I'm really complaining about running in mud because I really don't like to. My other hilly trail run was much better. It was the first time that I did the run after rain and it wasn't muddy at all, so now I know for future reference.

I was going to ride my bike this afternoon, but after fiddling around with my bike tail light, I gave up and lost motivation.