Seminole State Forest

Florida may be flat, but it is beautiful. Today I had the opportunity to run 30 miles in the Seminole State Forest. Running through swamps, forest, fields of palms, and much more.

Before I get into my run report, I must explain this 50 day challenge that Brack, Spencer, and I are doing. Beginning today, for the next 50 days, we are running with no rest days. The only stipulations are a MINIMUM of 5 miles per day, and AT LEAST one double digit run per week. The challenge will end on March 14, 7 days before the ING Atlanta, in which all 3 of us will run. Now for the report.

I began at the Southern end of the Seminole State Forest at one of the Florida Trail Trailheads. I really had no clue how far my run was gonna be, but I was thinking between 20 and 30. Standing at the trailhead, I tried to memorize the trail map, but there were intersecting trails everywhere, and I was planning to run 3 different loops off of the Florida Trail. So I decided to take pictures of the map at the trailhead, and this ended up being a great idea...yet another reason every runner needs an iphone.

My pack was a little heavy, due to carrying 5 hours worth of water, and probably enough calories for 40 miles. So the first couple of miles were tough because of the weight, but when I got to around 4 or 5 miles, I started getting in a rhythm. The trails were awesome, and I rolled through miles 10-17 and really felt good. As I got to around mile 18, I ran into a really soft sandy section of the trail, and it really got to me. This stretch lasted for about 3 miles, and as I ran through it, I hardly felt like I was even moving. At mile 21, at the end of the sand, I felt rough. This was nothing a pack of peanut m & m's couln't fix. I shouldn't have sat down! I got up and decided to head back to the car via the Florida Trail, having just completed the third loop off the the main trail. As I started back, it probably took me 2 minutes to waddle back to my pace, but I got back in the rhythm.

I struggled at numerous points on the way back, but continued to move forward. I did stop about halfway back and chatted with the park ranger at the pond. She was sitting and smoking a cigarette chatting with an old guy fishing. I shot the breeze with them for a minute before making the final 3 miles of the trip back to the car. I made it back to the car at mile 27. Great run.

So then I called one of my team leaders at Chick-fil-a whom I told I would run with. So I drove 5 minutes to his house to run 3 miles with him on a paved bike trail. He hadn't run in a year or so, so I had to get over there.

It is nice to be an Ultra runner again! See you on the trails.

Back in the Game

So my last post was May 20 of last year, and it wasn't long after that my running came to a stop. Sometime in August I began to think I was too busy to run, so for the next few months, there was virtually no running. I did run 2 or 3 times in November, and the same in December. I was travelling A LOT!!! I made many excuses, and began to think I was finished with running for a while. Unfortanately that lasted until this month.

Since the end of November, I have been living north of Orlando FL, running a Chick-fil-A temporarily. My first few weeks were extremely busy, being December in a mall!!! I worked Open-Close many times in December. When January rolled around, I began to see efforts paying of, as the store was running more efficiently and some of the leadership that is being developed really began to take ownership in the store. This is very exciting for me, meaning I will not be here 12-14 hours a day anymore. I want to thank every member of the team at Chick-fil-A @ Seminole Towne Center for committing to your role and running a successful store day in and day out!

So this brings me to running. I am back out there on the pavement and trails. My first day of the year was the Wednesday before last in which I ran 6 miles. My second time out was that Sunday, in which I ran 26.2 miles... I had to see if I still had it in me. I did feel it after this run for a few days.

Running in Florida is different than North GA! Everything is flat! It's crazy to look at the elevation on my GPS and it read 42 feet. The first time I saw this I thought it was wrong. The awesome part of running down here is the beautiful trails through the swamps. I haven't seen a gator yet, but I have my eye out for one. The Palm Trees also make this area beautiful. Oh, and so I ran across and orange on the trail, and I thought the same thing I thought last time I saw an orange on the trail... and that was a backpacker must have dropped their snack. But of course it actually fell of an orange tree, yeah that was pretty cool.

This week has been a huge success. I have run everyday and actually feel pretty good after a couple of double digit runs this week.

The 50 day challenge!

Beginning this Sunday Jan. 24, Brack, Spencer, and I are up for the challenge. We are committing to 50 days straight of training with no rest days. The stipulations are a minimum of 5 miles a day and at least one double digit a week. This challenge will run until March 14, seven days before ING Georgia. The last week of the challenge, I will probably be running the minimum most days, as I recover a little for ING Georgia. So we will see what happens. We will all be tweeting our workouts everyday, so you can follow @running_drew, @CoachBrack, and @spencart on twitter.

The goal for ING GA is to PR, that would be sub 2:58:28, but with a bigger goal of sub 2:50. I really hope to keep up with this blog, but more importantly to continue to experience new adventures on the trails and pavement! Thanks for reading, and I can't wait to get back to North GA and hit the trails with you guys.

From Flat Florida,

Running Drew