Chain of Lakes

With all of the soggy, frozen, muddy, etc trail conditions being reported, I opted to do a 13 miler around the Mpls chain of lakes today. Game plan: park near Calhoun, head to Harriet, come back to Calhoun, take the Lake of the Isles detour, and do another lap around Calhoun. Almost exactly 13 miles.

Here's what really happened:
Slept like crap - woke up around 2:30 am and tossed and turned until it started getting light out. Finally crashed and got up around 10 am. By the time I ate breakfast, got dressed, yadayadayada, it was almost noon before I got to Lake Calhoun. Beautiful spring weather, with the temps already mid-50's. Realize that I am waaaaaaayyyyyy over dressed (shorts and t-shirt would have been ideal; I was in running tights and Under Armor winter gear mock T-neck). Being one of the first warm days of the year - and on a Saturday no less - at least half of the population of Mpls was also out enjoying the still frozen lakes.

Started out along the west side of Calhoun as planned. The dirt track next to the asphalt is in great shape - past the muddy stage. Took the detour over to Harriet - pretty crowded there too. More strollers - probably because it's the lake with the Elf Tree. BTW, the Elf Tree's door is pretty dinged up. Poor little fella...he's probably still at the winter cabin. Still some spotty snow pack on the path at the south end of the lake in the Elf neighborhood. Back over to Calhoun, north along the east side and the detour to Isles. Finally, an uncrowded path. A brand spankin' new path, with deep mud surrounding the path on all sides. They did a bunch of path reconstruction over the past few years, and grass has still not been replanted. Went back to Calhoun figuring that by now the crowds have probably thinned and I'll do one more lap. Wrong. Even more people have come! Picture Get in Gear where half of the people bring their dog. By the time I got back to my car, I couldn't stand the crowds anymore and pulled the plug. Only did 9.9 miles, but I felt a little gassed, overheated, and my knees were sore. Also starving, since I never ate lunch.

Knees have been pretty achy this week - especially after a 9 mile run on the treadmill this past Tuesday - and they are still buggin' me even now. I don't know why, but the treadmill really gets to my knees. Hopefully I can do a longer run outside on Tuesday since 10 miles is the longest I've managed so far this year and my first 25K is in 2 weeks. Yikes!

Sounds like we will be getting an all day rain tomorrow, which should melt a lot of the stubborn snow that's been hanging around. Actually, I think we are supposed to get rain every other day all next week.

Only 2 weeks 'til Trail Mix - I may need to bring a snorkel ;)

After 6 months of winter, I can't wait to get back in the dirt and see my trail running buddies!