Dry Week to a Wet Weekend

A dry week here in NWA led to rain on Saturday and Sunday. The week was absolutely gorgeous weather wise and of course I was sick. I did get some training in through the week, two runs, a swim, and a mountain bike ride. Saturday morning I got out for a longish trail run with Smuckers. Even after a week of no rain, the trail still had water draining. The run was solid, 50 minutes and the legs felt great.

Today I headed out to Lake Leatherwood, site of my first Xterra, for a timed mountain bike loop to see how I stack up against last years competitors. Average time last year among the top twenty finishers is roughly 1hr 25min, I feel this is a time that I can duplicate or better. So I headed out to Eureka with a goal in mind and to push myself to achieve it. I get to LL about 10a, I knew I needed to get my ride in quick as showers and T'storms would be moving in shortly after noon. First thing I notice is that there is a lot of standing water around the campgrounds, not a good sign. Must have gotten rain the previous night. I kit up and head out anyway. Half way up Miner's Rock climb I knew it was going to a long day on the trail. When Miner's is wet, the rest of the lower trails are really going to be wet and slick. However, I pressed on hoping for the best. Made it up and down Miner's without much trouble, a couple of downed trees I had to hike around. The rest of the nine miles was a real test of my handling/technical skills. The trail wasn't really muddy, but every rock and root felt like it was covered in slime. Any kind of technical climb had me off the bike walking, I felt like a complete newb. I limped my way through the course to finish in 1hr 45min. I road up and down Miner's Rock a few times to round out the mileage at 19 miles for the day. I'm hoping for a dry course next Sunday as I am planning ride the bike course and then follow with the run course