The weather had warmed up nicely and much of our recent snow has melted away but today was mostly a nice long run on the road (although I enjoyed a couple of damp trail miles hiking with Lulu). I'm feeling better about running a 50km trail ultra next Saturday although I'm not as prepared endurance-wise as I would like. Still, it will be a good test to check out my mental endurance more than anything as it's a tough single-track course with well over 6000 feet of climbing so my pace will definitely be slow. I'll just have to push to finish even if it's a slow effort. I hit the hilly Sierry Peaks loop after an hour under my sauna blanket. I felt stronger today although a long stretch of hills slowed me down quite a bit but then once I crested the high point things moved along nicely. I ended up with almost 9 miles so that is a great sign. 2 miles slogging on wet trails at Granite Basin in the afternoon was a nice way to end the weekend. Lulu loves these hikes and although we'll be leaving Prescott for good in 3 weeks I'll always remember these beautiful treks.

Winter's last gasp snow has been melting rapidly these days which meant any dirt trails were sure to be wet and muddy but that didn't bother me on my morning run or later with Lulu on a hike up in Granite Basin. It was a shorter morning walk with Lulu as I wanted to pack up more of our rv gear as we prepare to head back to SD in a few weeks. My mood was better as I felt more motivated to run well although I'm still not sure about the upcoming 50km next weekend. It's a low key event so I'm hoping just to jog through the trails decently but may not run if my body isn't feeling up to it towards the end of the week - just have to wait and see. My run was decently paced being mostly in the mid to upper 9 minute pace for most of the course. I especially felt good on the long uphill towards the crest of the route before hitting a nice downhill to home. Our hike at Granite Basin was fun (albeit sloppy from the melting snow) and we were the only people out on the trails. Plenty to see and Lulu chased a couple of squirrels up trees so it was a fun time for us both 😁😁😁.

We woke up to a landscape covered with almost 4 inches of fresh very late season snow (so much for our lackluster Winter so far). It was still snowing heavily when we got up so Lulu's morning walk was nothing more than a couple of loops around the rv park. Fortunately the roads had been warm enough to melt much of the snow so the footing was just wet and a slushy mess. The previous two day's runs had been pitiful with only a couple of miles both days. My legs had felt dead and I had no motivation to run at all. At least I felt more energetic today and thus was able to run an even 6 miles (but even those miles felt strained so I'm not sure about running the upcoming 50 km trail race next weekend).

Not much to report on today's Actifit recap as I ran a decent but boring loops around the neighborhood. At least my legs felt good. Finished off the weekend with a nice 2 miles around Lynx Lake with Lulu. Bot many people out there but we had a good time.

It was off to Lynx Lake for a hard run through the forest on the Homestead Trail- although it is a popular hike I had the place to myself for the 6+ miles. I started off from the Northside parking area along the relatively flat and easy paved shore path for a mile and a half before beginning a steady half mile climb up the paved exit road up to the crossing of the Homestead Trail. From there it was another quarter mile uphill before the winding single-track began heading back along the ridges above Lynx Lake and under the tall pines. My legs were feeling the effects of the rugged Trail and a scramble up a rocky hillside a half mile from the finish really had me slowing but I finished up strong with 10 km.

Not too bad of a day as Spring weather is here but that included some very strong winds on my 8 miles around the town. I slept in a bit late and then hit my sauna blanket for a hot hour so it was a little bit later before my run. Despite a constant strong wind that made a mess of the gear that I've been reorganizing and packing away the weather was very mild and my pace quite quick on the easy road route. The first 3 miles were on my walking route and then the next 3 miles were a quicker gentle downhill to Prescott Center. There it was an equally easy uphill back towards home (a nice tailwind helped make the climb a LOT easier). A nice 2 miles hiking up in Granite Basin with Lulu wrapped up this day. I've entered a tough 50 km trail race in mid-March that goes along several of the Prescott Forest trails and finishes just a few miles up the road at Spence Springs so it should be an interesting run. Hopefully I'll do much better than at the Jackpot earlier this month.