Monday, July 13, 2015, 6:36 pm

3.18 mi, 34 ft gain, 33:00. RR Access Rd, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2 white.

My legs were a little sore, and my lower left leg was pretty tight. My ankles took a few minutes to loosen up. The dogs were super excited to go, since they haven’t been out as much with the hot weather.

I was surprised by our pace, it was probably 20-30 seconds faster per mi than I expected. At least part of that was the dogs excitement starting out. They slowed down a little toward the end.

We ran along the RR access road on the highway side until a little over 1 mi, then crossed the tracks to the river side. On the way back we went down to the river, so the dogs could get a drink and cool off. Vida jumped right in and started drinking. She stood there for a little while. Sigurd wasn’t all that interested.

There were a couple yellow plum trees that I hadn’t seen in previous years. They had dropped a lot of plums, but there were still some on the trees. I ate 5 or 6. They were pretty good. The dogs wouldn’t go anywhere near the fallen plums. I’m not sure what that was about.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Tuesday, July 14, 2015, 7:20 pm

11.05 mi, 847 ft gain, 1:46:28. Town to WFSP RR Grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

My lower left leg was pretty tight all the way up to the turnaround point. I made a concentrated effort to relax after that, and it felt much better.

I ran a comfortable pace. I still felt a little bit of the weekend’s runs in my legs, but not enough to slow me down much. I also ate a bit much relatively close to my run, so that slowed me a little for the first half or so as well.

I made a pit stop at the restroom at the end of the RR Grade trail. It took a minute or so for my legs to come back after that, but I felt quite a bit better on the way back down and home.

I had a little water at the TH both on the way out and back. It’s such a convenient spot for a water fountain and a restroom.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Wednesday, July 15, 2015, 7:28 pm

9.11 mi,  2195 ft gain, 1:44:10. Woody, Upper Falls (40), Upper Grade, detour, Greg Ball, RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

It might be time for some new shoes. I put 600 and 500 mi on my first two pair of these shoes. The two I currently have in rotation each have around 350 mi, but I’m starting to feel the same sort of lower leg and foot fatigue that I did in the now retired shoes. I could order some more of the same model, but they’ve gone on to the 2.0, so it might be time to look for something else instead.

I felt better than yesterday. My ankles loosened up more quickly. I felt better on both the climbs and the descents than on Sunday too. I still kept the pace moderate.

I had to make an off trail pit stop about halfway to the Upper falls. Even with that stop, my time for the whole loop was pretty good for the perceived effort.

This was my 40th time to Upper Wallace Falls for the year. I’m way ahead on my goal of 50 for the year. It’s just so convenient being so close to home. It’d be cool to do new trails all the time, but I don’t want to be driving that much.

The lower left leg was a little tight again today, but not as bad as previously. That’s one of the problems I had toward the end of my old shoes useful life. Focussing on relaxing helped some.

Descending down the Greg Ball trail was fun as ever. I had my headlamp on. It was still before sunset, but with the woods and cloud cover, it was kind of dark. I could probably have made it without, but there are enough rocks and roots to snag a toe on that I want to sure.

Unfortunately, someone threw and/or dragged a bunch of branches, logs and small dead trees over the upper part of the Greg Ball trail. They were easily stepped over, but it was obvious someone did it on purpose. I moved a few that were the greater obstacles, but didn’t have the time to move the rest.

Average HR 140 bpm.

 

Thursday, July 16, 2015, 7:19 pm

9.07 mi, 1989 ft gain, 1:49:19. RR Grade, Greg Ball, detour, Upper Grade, Upper Falls (41), Woody Trail, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #2.

I ended up running the same loop again, but in the reverse direction. I was moving pretty well up the RR Grade and most of the Greg Ball trail. I ended up stopping to check out a path leading off the trail down toward the river. I ended up finding a really cool little waterfall.

I had my first bear sighting of the year on today’s run. It was about halfway around the detour road when I heard crashing through the brush. It started about 5 yards off the road down the hill a little way. It ran off a few yards and stopped on a large dead log looking at me. It was still partly obscured by brush, but I could tell it was a bear. It wasn’t that big, maybe 150 lbs. It was colorphase brown, a cool looking bear. I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough. It took off before I was able to get it out of my belt pocket.

I felt pretty good on the descent down the woody trail. There was just enough light to not worry about taking out my headlamp. It was a lot of fun.

Average HR 138 bpm.

 

Friday, July 17, 2015, 7:42 pm

8.88 mi,  1622 ft gain, 1:52:29. Woody, Greg Ball, DNR Rd, bike trail, RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #2.

Got sidetracked talking to a guy I met at the park a while back in the parking lot before starting the run. Because I had less time than I planned, I changed up my route. I went up the Woody trail to the cutoff for the Greg Ball trail. It was a good thing too, because the restroom at the start of the Greg Ball trail came in quite handy.

I kept a pretty consistent effort up the Greg Ball trail. Once to the top, I turned left instead of right toward the lake and lake loop. I headed down the DNR rd toward the bike trail. The sky was filled with color from the setting sun. About a mile down the road, I came across a deer a ways ahead. It was a buck, and it didn’t stick around long enough for me to get any good photos.

Another 1.5 mi or so, I was coming up to a switchback in the road and saw another deer feeding on the grasses on the side of the road. It was a younger deer. I slowly crept forward until I was about 15 yards away and stopped. I pulled out my flipcam, which I just started carrying with me. I stood there for about 2 minutes watching and filming. I guess the wind was in my favor, because after a little bit, he still hadn’t figured me out and started slowly moving towards me. As he got a little closer, I could see that it was a young buck, with his first antlers. The left one was about as long as his ear. The right antler was just a couple inches long. He kept moving closer until he was about 5 yards away, then ate a little grass from the side of the road near me. He seemed to lose interest and wandered back to the other side of the road. I started to move towards him, and he started to spook. I got to within about 5 yards again, then he turned tail and took off over the edge into the woods. It was incredible. I’m very glad I got held up talking before my run.

The rest of the run was pretty uneventful. The sky was still gorgeously colored. I put on my headlamp when I hit the bike trail. It gets pretty dark with the dense canopy. I saw a couple bats once I got the the RR grade.

The run started out kind of crappy, but turned out wonderful.

Average HR 129 bpm.

 

Saturday, July 18, 2015, 7:14 pm

9.16 mi,  2105 ft gain, 1:52:23. RR Grade, Greg Ball, Detour, Upper Grade, Upper Falls (42), Woody Trail, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

I wasn’t really into the run for the first few minutes. I stepped off trail for a brief pitstop and saw some portion of another trail down the hill. It didn’t look like anything that I recognized. Maybe it’s part of the small falls interpretive trail.

I felt a little better after that. I started feeling more normal once on the Greg Ball trail. I looked down the steep slope towards the river in a couple spots. One looked particularly promising for some cool waterfalls and pools, but it’s really steep. I’m not sure if I could make it all the way down.

I took the detour around to the Upper grade. No bears this time.

I stopped briefly at the Upper falls, and again at the Middle falls. I was a little earlier today, so I didn’t need to break out the headlamp. I made pretty good time on the decent. I made a hard kick for the last 0.16 mi or so. Once it hit 9 mi, I sped up. It felt good striding it out like that.

Average HR 132 bpm.

 

Sunday, July 19, 2015, 5:17 pm

19.85 mi, 3513 ft gain, 4:36:24. Loop to Reiter, Upper Grade, Detour, Greg Ball, Woody, Upper Falls (43), Woody, Home, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

I finally did it. I connected the Reiter DNR roads over to Wallace Falls State Park. I ran from home and made it a big loop.

It was hot today. And much of the way on the roads to the Reiter gate was in the sun. The heat had my HR up a bit. I was also sweating buckets. It was nice to get into the woods once I passed under the high voltage lines.

I was very disappointed to see spray painted graffiti on a bunch of rocks, logs and trees at the May Creek crossing. The creek was super low. I dipped my chamois cloth and soaked myself a bit.

The first mile or so of trail after May Creek was pretty good. After that, it gets quite overgrown. Fortunately, it’s not too hard to get through, but my arms and legs took a bit of a beating. The old road bed was in fairly decent shape, so when they finally get to clearing it to finish the trail connecting to the park, it won’t take too much more work.

I had to hike a lot more than I wanted, not because it was all that steep, but because it was so overgrown. It’s probably a good thing, though. It likely helped me continue to feel strong much later in the run.

I still had some water when I crossed the bridge above the falls, so I didn’t stop to refill. I continued out the Upper Grade to the detour.

I filtered some water from the Wallace River under the bridge at the other end of the detour. Then I continued down to and on the Greg Ball trail. I had another bear sighting a little over 0.5 mi down the Greg Ball. I heard it crashing through the woods before I saw it. I stopped and moved around a bit so I could get a clear line of sight through the trees. I saw an adult black colored black bear running away. Later I talked to one of the caretakers. He said people have seen bears pretty much all over the park. The rest of the way down to the RR Grade was as fun as ever.

I wanted to go to the upper falls at least once, so I took the turn off from the RR Grade down to the Woody trail, then up to the Upper Falls. I didn’t see anyone all day until I hit the bridge down hill from the junction of the connector with the Woody trail. There were two women going down under the bridge to the creek. I saw four more hikers shortly after that on the climb up after that.

There were no more people up the trail above that. I made it to the upper falls, had a little water and food and rested for a minute before heading back down. I saw the two women again as they were hiking up the hill from the bridge on my way down. I had the rest of the trail on the way down to myself, besides a mountain beaver who frantically scurried off the trail as I ran by.

As I exited the woods near the high voltage lines nearing the trail head, the sky was beautifully lit up by the sunset. I enjoyed at least a partial view of the sunset for the next 1.5 mi or so.

Running along the road home wasn’t so bad, much better than it has been on past occasions. I ran out of water shortly after leaving the park. I could have made it home just fine, but I also wanted to pick up a couple things, so I stopped at the grocery store.

I was able to fit my couple items in my pack after taking the headlamp out. It was getting dark, so it was time to pull it out anyway.

I’m really happy about completing the loop from Reiter to Wallace Falls. I’d like to organize a race out here and that’s part of the course I have in mind.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 70.2 mi, 12,305 ft elevation gain.

Monday, July 6, 2015, 8:08 pm

3.16 mi, 681 ft gain, 49:21. Reiter gate #4, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 red #2.

A little more vert than I planned, but good to get out and moving. My ankle was a bit sore, so the rocky trails at Reiter probably weren’t the best idea, but I took it very easy and was careful.

Average HR 115 bpm.

 

Tuesday, July 7, 2015, 7:52 pm

3.16 mi, 28 ft gain, 25:13. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Another recovery run. My ankle is still a little sore.

Average HR 138 bpm.

 

Wednesday, July 8, 2015, 8:56 pm

3.15 mi, 28 ft gain, 20:45. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Another easy run. Ankle is still sore, but getting better.

Average HR 158 bpm.

 

Thursday, July 9, 2015, 7:42 pm

11.06 mi,  840 ft gain, 1:30:43. Town to WFSP RR Grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Ankle is still a little sore, but feeling mostly better. I went up the RR Grade to test it out. It went just fine.

Average HR 142 bpm.

 

Friday, July 10, 2015, 7:32 pm

9.31 mi, 2093 ft gain, 1:52:49. Woody trail, Upper Falls (35), Upper grade, detour, Greg Ball, RR grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

Another ankle test run. I went up the Woody trail and down the Greg Ball because the Woody is steeper and rockier. I figured it was a little bit safer than going down the Woody trail.

Since I fell behind writing these, I don’t remember much else about the run. I’m pretty sure I pulled out my headlamp for the descent down the Greg Ball and RR Grade to be on the safe side.

Average HR 136 bpm.

 

Saturday, July 11, 2015, 6:36 pm

14.06 mi, 4066 ft gain, 2:58:30. Woody, Upper (36), loop, Greg Ball, Woody, Upper (37), loop Greg Ball, Woody, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #2.

The ankle was pretty much better.

Another write up from a couple weeks later, so I don’t remember a lot.

I ran the loop, with the detour. The second time, I went from the Greg Ball down the cutoff to the Woody trail and around again.

Average HR 139 bpm.

 

Sunday, July 12, 2015, 5:29 pm

17.78 mi, 4451 ft gain, 3.54:41. Woody, Upper Falls (38), W. Lake, J. Lake, Greg Ball, RR Grade, Woody, Upper Falls (39), Woody, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

Ankle was good.

I tried going up the logging roads on Stickney, but they were massively overgrown with wildflowers and other things. After the bee sting the other day, and active bees on the flowers, I decided against it and turned around.

Before I turned around, I heard and saw a pika in the rocks on the side of the road. I watched for a little while. Then I went over and set my phone up next to its hole. I caught a little glimpse of it investigating things on video. It was pretty cool.

I continued out on the normal lake loop, even though there is still no bridge. The North Fork Wallace River leaving the Wallace lake is low enough that it’s really easy to hop across.

I continued out to the beach on the other side Wallace Lake for a few minutes then out to Jay Lake and back. I went down the Greg ball and RR Grade. Rather than going to the TH, I turned at the start of the Woody trail and ran to the Upper Falls and down again.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 61.6 mi, 12,131 ft elevation gain