14 mile trail run

Ran the trail run with the Reston Runners again, the same course as last week but I KNEW WHERE I WAS GOING this time. The weather was about as warm as last week but not as humid, and I did much better. And no falling on the trail this time either. The route was supposed to be 14 miles (give or take a half mile), my GPS measured 12.89 miles, in 2:42 at a pace of 12:34. I love my trusty Forerunner 101, but the GPS is not the most accurate in the world. I'm looking forward to my new device at Christmas.

I was dehydrated when I finished but not too badly, and I was hot and tired, but all in all I was pleased with my performance - my target pace was 12:00. I spent some time napping and drank lots and lots of water and Gatorade G2 and took it easy the rest of the day.

There are a couple of reasons I like to know where the route is.
* Most importantly, if I don't know, I try too hard to keep up with the leaders who do know where they are going, and that makes me go too fast too early on.
* And I live for the water stops/self-service aid stations. If I miss those I am one unhappy runner.
I like to run the assigned route, but I'm not OCD about it. And I'm not really worried about getting lost - I've used the GPS to backtrack before, if that doesn't work I will inevitably run into the toll road or Route 7 or some other big landmark road to orient me, and if all else fails I can ask someone or knock on a door - there's not much true wilderness left around here.