With two weeks left before the 20 mile race at Cougar Mountain, a long run was in order. I met up with my training partner, Terry, at the Pratt Lake TH at 7 am on Saturday with a goal of doing a 4-5 hour run/hike. The weather was cloudy but not too ominous. Hit the trail around 7:30am. Didn't anticipate seeing a lot of people on the trail today given the weather. There were only our 2 cars in the lot and one other.
Took the first few miles easy since there was a fair amount of climbing right from the start (roughly 2200 feet in 4 miles). I had forgotten my garmin at home and Terry's was glitchy so I was basing my estimates on mileage from my previous trips here.We had initially planned to do the out and back to Pratt Lake with an added climb up to Granite Mtn. for a total of 18. The plan changed early on as neither of us was up for the amount of climbing required and didn't necessarily need it in prep for the race. Kept on from Pratt toward Melakwa Lake, which is what I had done earlier this summer with the Seattle Mountain Running Group. Needless to say this time it was just as beautiful despite the lack of snow. The views did not disappoint, only highlighted by the changing colors of fall and the inclement weather.
Headed up the trail and got hit with our first downpour, lasting about 5-10 minutes. It wasn't cold so the rain actually felt good. My only concern was my cell phone, which had a protective cover just not necessarily waterproof. Thankfully there wasn't enough rain to do any damage. Allowed for lots of picture taking!
One of our conversations during our hike was about time. Given that I had forgotten my Garmin and had no access to the instant feedback that I was used to, it was quite an adjustment. One of my recent revelations was about prioritizing time and how not everything has to be done right now - what's urgent versus what's important. This has been a big revelation for me as I tend to be scatterbrained, starting different tasks as I think of them because I'm afraid I'll forget to do them. What makes this significant is how I'm spending my time with my son. Realizing that spending time with him is way more important, for the most part, than whatever task may be waiting. We spent most of the time hiking than running and taking longer than planned. Being ok with that is a big step for me because having done so much running on pavement, made me a slave to pace - how fast? How far? It was almost a relief not having that watch to remind me of what I didn't necessarily need to know.
We decided to turn around based on time, not knowing at that point exactly how far we'd gone. Encountered several different groups of hikers and didn't think anything of their late departures until we'd gotten back to our cars and it started pouring. I began to wonder how'd they fare since none looked prepared for rain.
As far as diet goes, I again started to feel hungry with a few miles left to go. I also came to the realization I need to incorporate more real food options as opposed to gels & blocks.In my pack: 3 gels (1 honey stinger, 1 PowerBar Tangerine, and 1 ClifShot Mocha) and 1 PB Sandwich on white bread. I ended up eating all but the ClifShot and was feeling hungry the last 3ish miles. I had 2L of water in the bladder of my pack, with 2 tablets of Nuun. I think 3 would've been better, but it wasn't very warm so I wasn't sweating as heavily and not losing as much salt (I'm typically covered in a fine layer of salt if it's warm out).
Overall I felt pretty good. Hips ached ever so slightly but not nearly to the extent they did a month previous when I visited last. I definitely need to continue/resume the foam rolling and stretching that my chiropractor recommended. I had fallen off the bandwagon and definitely felt it.
My goal next year is to run the loop (Pratt Lake - Melakwa - Denny Creek) again, preferably without snow (likely next June/July). I would also like to get up that Granite Mtn trail since it is short and the climbing will be a nice challenge.
