D.D.M.C. #5 +++

There were no takers, so the run began promptly @ 6:26 am. Admittedly, I was nervous, because the forecast predicted rain and a quick check of the radar before I left indicated a large mass of green moving towards Kensington. Never fear, not a drop fell the entire time.

Once i got there, temps were hovering around 59 degrees, and i decided that i would do a loop around Kensington Metro Park before gearing up and heading out towards Island Lake. There were a number of cyclists getting ready for the Tour of Kensington Valley Road Race as I made my way around but they were not riding on the path so I ran pretty easily.

Getting back to my car, I loaded up the waist pack with water, hammer gels, the shuffle, and headed off to run the trails @ Island Lake. Just before getting to the trailhead I hit the halfway mark of the D.D.M.C. #5 and thought that with the distance still ahead I might be over the marathon mark by a bit. A cool breeze and pristine trails awaited me. I hit the the marathon mark on the trails in 3 hr 55 min and stopped to refill a water bottle at the hand pump upon exiting the trails.

I had maintained a run 18 min/walk 2 min pace throughout the marathon and scaled it back to run 15 min/walk 5 min until I got back to the car. I felt great the entire time, and got about 13+ miles of trails in my first time out this year. Along the run got to thinking that maybe another 50 miler is in store this fall?

Total Distance: 31. 38 miles
Total Time: 4 hr 45 min
Average Pace: 9:05/mile
Marathon Time: 3 hr 55 min

Post run recovery included meeting up with some of the participants from the Tour of Kensington Valley Road Race which included the 4th and 14th plance finishers in Cat 1/2 and the overall winner and 10th place finisher in Cat 3 for some cowboy pops.