Finishing the job

I'm glad to say that I finished what I attempted to start 2 weeks ago. This morning I went out to Blanchard Woods again to run the hills, and this time my car didn't break down! Yay!

However, I kinda get the feeling that the universe didn't want me to run Blanchard Woods.

First my car breaks down while trying to go for a run here
So 2 weeks later I go back out for attempt #2. And about .5 miles in I see this

Yep! The whole place is kind of under construction at the moment - it's a soccer park with cross country trails, and apparently they are supposed to be adding a skate/BMX park. Just really hoping they aren't sacrificing the running trail to do that. I'd find that hard to believe, as this place is insanely popular with runners. Maybe they will just add onto the trail elsewhere.

Hill #1

I wish people would stop killing my trails! First my neighborhood destroyed half of our walking trail to build new houses, now Columbia county is killing Blanchard Woods's trail??? It's madness!

Anywho, I made the best of this by repeatedly running the same stretch. This meant I missed out on most of the hills, but there were 2 of them right at the front of the trail for me to use. I ran the .5 mile stretch out and back 3 times, then ran up the 2 hills 3 times each. Grand total of a little over 4 miles. My pace was 10:30, not bad for hill training I'd say. It was pretty tiring. The .5 mile section was pretty much one long hill, so on the way out I'd be running downhill, but that meant the way back was all uphill, followed by the 2 big hills. This was a pretty good workout!

Hill #2

Wish I could have done the steeper hills out here, but hey - something's better than nothing. 

This is an extension of hill #1, at the very beginning of the trail right before you get into the woods.

Sadly I may have to find another spot to run hills. With the majority of the trail being out it just doesn't make much sense to come here. Maybe the next time I go to FATS I will do a few hill repeats.