A feel-good 26 miler (not BPA-free)

I will be the first one to admit that I was shocked at how good this run felt-- during and after. It seems like you shouldn't be able to run a marathon distance and enjoy the whole thing.

Our second meal: Tings, peanut butter cups, salt & vinegar chips, peanut butter-filled pretzels, and my Tofurky, pickle, creamcheeze and spinach quarter-sandwich

John, Ann's main squeeze, dropped us off at the far end of Forest Park, at the Newberry trailhead of Wildwood Trail. We ran to BPA Road (Ann's least favorite), up to Skyline Drive, then WAY down to Firelane 13, connected to Firelane 15, and back to Wildwood. That extra loop gave us about three miles so that we could end at the Birch trailhead, a third of a mile from Ann's house.

This run was not BPA free, by Ann's request

Perhaps one of the most helpful things we did for this run was stop twice for mini-meals, at 10 miles and again about 8 miles later. Breaking 26 miles into 10, 8 and 8 made it so manageable. Of course it helped that this route was MUCH flatter than last week's 22 miler, which really wiped both of us out. Looking at the elevation map the next day, we discovered that the 22 miler had 10 miles in a row of uphill! No wonder we were so tired.

A rainbow leaf gradient along the trail

• Newberry trailhead of Wildwood (30.16)- BPA (ww 27.45)-- 2.71mi
• BPA to Skyline and back to Wildwood-- .46mi X2 = .92 (3.63 total)
• BPA (ww 27.45) to Firelane 12-- .25mi (3.88 total)
• Firelane 12 to Firelane 15-- .51mi (4.39 total)
• Firelane 15 to WW (28.63)-- .37mi (4.76 total)
• WW (28.63) to Birch (ww 7.49)-- 21.14mi (25.9 total)
• Birch to 53rd-- .22mi (26.12 total)