Even before I ran my first hundo, I was planning to run 50 ultras this year because, well, I’m turning five-oh. But life apparently had other plans. After the hundo, I recovered pretty well and was getting ready to get going again. Well, we were in the park where our dog took off, got close to the road, I started chasing and then slipped on the wet grass and hit my shin hard on something. And just like that, out for a couple of weeks! So I’ve been mostly biking, treadmilling, healing and trying to rebuild until this run. Here’s my Strava activity:

The Turkey Bunny 50K

For the New Year’s Eve 100 miler, I never ventured more than 0.5 miles away from home. This time, it was three 10 mile loops/out-and-back to the car at my neighborhood open space preserve, aka, Rancho San Antonio preserve.

The first 10 miles was up Stephen E. Abbors Trail (used to be called PG&E trail because of the power lines that run alongside the trail) in the clockwise direction. Kept it nice and easy watching for any signs of shin flaring up. The sunrise was epic bringing huge smiles on my face. Finished the loop in 1:45. Took my time eating half a Tahoe Bar and then headed out again.

The second 10 miles was up Chamise Trail towards Black Mountain and then back. The turkeys were out enjoying the morning, the sun was now out, but not too warm. Back at the car at 3:33. One more loop left. Worked on half a Pro Bar before heading out again.

The last 10 miles was up to the top of Stephen E. Abbors Trail in the counter clockwise direction (just to mix things up). A fair bit of walking the hills on this loop, still paying very close attention for potential niggles. When I finished this loop, I still had a mile or so to get it to 31 miles so walked/ran around Deer Meadow trail to finish the run. Just a nice and relaxed 5:44 finish with not a hurry in the world. Beautiful day to be out. Now hopefully I can get back on schedule 🙂 Still got 48 ultras to go this year!

Two ultras and 2-for-2 with Tailwind so far. Other than the two half bars I ate, I was mostly on Tailwind rest of the run (about 850 calories) – no GI issues, no bonking and never felt hungry or thirsty. Never needed gels either.