Easter Egg 20

20, as in twenty miles on the Buckeye Trail in the Cuyahoga Valley NRA/NP. (Not sure which it is exactly anymore, a National Recreation Area or a fully fledged National Park) We were up and running just before dawn, a large group of around 40 people, with the barest minimum amount of light to see where we were stepping. Temperatures in the bottom of the valley and ravines were a little on the chilly side, but up on the rim of the Valley and on the hilltops, add another 10 degrees to make things very comfortable. I would find myself longing for those cool spots later in the run. I forgot my Garmin and Ladd grabbed one that hadn't recharged yet so we were running blind with no sense of time or distance. Fortunately, the scenery kept my attention during the run. That and making sure I wasn't going to trip on anything!

Dawn breaking on the run.

Brown was still the prevailing color, but that will soon change.

Believe it or not, it was pretty sturdy.

Blue Hen Falls

Signs of Spring were poking out of the ground.

Ladd climbing the Piano Keys ahead of me.

Soaking my aching feet in the chilly waters of the Cuyahoga River.

Looking upstream towards I-271.

A beautiful run in beautiful weather, though uncomfortably warm towards the end. But it beats snow or cold rain any day! We finished in just under 5 hours by our estimate, with an extended break at the turnaround point. I'm looking forward to getting back down there and running that route again.

And just as an update to the BIG Swim post, I neglected to add my data. I did indeed end up swimming the full Ironman distance + a little bit, 2.5 miles, in 1:58. Everything felt great and I had a very enjoyable swim. Hope I get more of those!