Matthew Henson Trail – 9 miles

Great long run on the Matthew Henson trail today. We did just over 9 miles, which was the goal. It wasn’t pretty, but it’s done. If you’re interested in running on this trail, I included the map at the end of this post.

So when you’re planning a run with friends, be careful what you ask for (or be really, really specific). We got to a fork in the path and Heather said we could go left and it is relatively flat or go right and it’s hilly. The middle of the Frederick Half is hilly so I want/need to do hill work so of course I said hilly.

OMGracious – these were some monster hills. Up and down…up and down..up. I had to walk part of them on the way out, but was able to run them (albeit slowly) on the way back. This gave me a great sense of accomplishment when I got to the top [accompanied by heavy breathing :)]. My legs are feeling it — not too badly, but I’m so glad that I picked up a Trigger Point Therapy kit on the way home – Fleet Feet Gaithersburg stocks them.

My muscles are still really tight and feel like I am running with heavy legs. Believe it or not, I’m still recovering from the extremely hard track workout from almost 2 weeks ago. Also, I was having a lot of ankle problems. When we started, my ankle felt like it didn’t have a full range of motion so I had Heather pull my foot while it was flexed so it released at the ankle, which helped. I was still having some pain in it on the hills, which was caused by the camber on the path. Since our streets and paths are cambered it is definitely time for more ankle strengthen exercises!! To compensate for the angle, I started running on the top left side tof the path.

When we got back to the fork, I had to decide whether to go on or go back to the car. Natually I didn’t want to stop and remembered a trick I hadn’t used in a while. I laced up using the last hole on my shoe, which offered stability to my ankle and things were much better after that. Once my ankle settled down I was finally able to find my stride and loosened up at mile 6. I realized that I was tensing my muscles and since my ankle didn’t hurt I could finally relax and find my rhythm.

We ran to Garrett Park and then back to the car with Heather setting milestones (I achieved all of them – YAY!). I’m really satisfied because these 9 miles were in less time than last week’s 8 miles. I definitely have the distance for the 10 miler on April 1. Now I’m focusing on form, pace, and stretching. WOOT.

The Matthew Henson Trail map is below or click this link. The trail also connects to the Rock Creek Trail if you want a longer run.