5:30 am -10 miles with Scott W, Jennilyn E, Matt W and Craig L up to AveTwin Peaks. My legs and lungs felt less conditioned today than past trail runs. I'm out of shape and a little worn out. Craig and Jennilyn are mountain goats. They pushed the pace the entire way. I could claim that I stayed a little behind with the others, for conversational pace, but really only Scott was talking and I was was huffing. I take it back when I told Andrea and Allie that it wasn't bad running with them. The pace on the way down was much more of a pushed effort (only for me.) I stayed with the goats for a few minutes then found myself running down the other side of the mountain alone. Good thing Scott babysits me when I tag along. He called me back and we finished together with some effort.
I let myself be spoiled for Christmas this year. I really needed to get some new items in my running collection. I've been excited to test them out! I wore a Nathan slim beenie, that has a built in rechargeable head lamp and tail light. It also has a pony tail hole:) The light is pointless in the mountains, but probably good on the roads. I also wore some running Yaktrax with mini spikes for the first time. They worked great on the ice and I had no issues on the tough parts (although I did fall going up, but landed softly, somehow.) Then I wore some Pearl Izumi gloves with a wind resistant mitt cover. They were terrible at the beginning, but ended up doing well after the first 10 minutes. I hear the 360s gloves are great. My head lamp was lame, but that's because my son has slept with it on for the past few nights. Lastly, I tried out my Mountain Hardware with Windstopper top. It was warm and light with only a base layer underneath. That one was an ebay special! It's been fun getting new items and replacing my running gear from my college days. It's been long overdue.
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