21.5

...that's the number of miles I covered in yesterday's Neusoik trail run.  We were up at 5am and arrived at the Pine Cliffs Recreation Area on the Neuse river by 6:30am.  Michael and I have been training by doing long runs once a week for the last month, but I hadn't gotten over 13 miles yet... luckily though we had covered all sections of the trail, so I knew my way around.  I had resolved to run the first half and then briskly walk the second to try to finish it under the 6-hour time limit.

I've often mentioned the trail in this blog - as a source of inspiration for paintings and as the site of plein air sessions.  But we also run sections of it several times a week.

The morning was cold (36 degrees) and the trail was wet... but the sky was clear and when the sun came up we set off.  I pretty much stuck to my plan and finished in 5 1/2 hours.   Michael ran the whole thing and finished just under 3 1/2 hours!

Here's a link to the "Map My Run" program from my phone which shows the route/time I took, in case you're curious.

Today we are barely moving - sort of like these folks from the day after the marathon...

This was the dawn on the Neuse River that morning: