The Eugene Expedition

Did a 23.5 mile run n Eugene, Oregon last week.  Had to do another run in "Track Town USA."  I did a 5 mile run along the river in Eugene a couple of years ago and I was looking forward to doing a longer run there.  I wanted to run on Pre's Trail which is a really nice trail made of soft wood chips on a firm base - very nice to run on.  Unfortunately Pre's Trail is only about 4 miles long so I ended up making it an adventure with exploring and running all over the place.  Here is the map with my run (each marked "lap" is one mile from my GPS, click on it to see the bigger version).

It was a sunny day about 6o degrees with a slight wind from the east.  I had a hotel that was right next to the river trail which led about a mile to Pre's Trail.  It is very nice to run on - very comfortable.  In fact, probably too comfortable.  You can really tell the difference when you move back onto pavement.  I added some photos of the run on my FaceBook page.  I headed right to Pre's Trail and then did a lot of side trips exploring to lay down some more miles.  I figure I would finish along the river trail.  It was interesting exploring a lot of places I have never been before and it almost made me forget I was running.  There were some really good canoe trails/waterways and very nice homes.  I ran around the U of O stadium which is just off the trail. (I have a tradition of running around football stadiums when I visit towns e.g. Auburn, Ann Arbor, College Park MD, UW, etc.).  I retraced my route on Pre's Trail because it felt so nice to run on then took off on the River Trail.  It was getting dark about this time and I ended up running the last four miles in the dark.

About mile 15 I started to get some hunger action going on.  This seemed to get worse each mile after that.  I had been taking some sport beans and nothing else.  It was catching up to me.  Before the run I decided not to drink any sweet sports drinks because I think that is what made me nauseated during my last long run.   At mile 20 I was starving, my mouth was watering and all I could think of was food.  Not just food, but a lot of food, even fried food (which I don't like very much).  At mile 22 I realized that I had a bag of COSTCO gummy things and I ripped my CamelBak off and tore open the pouch and inhaled them.  It was not enough - in fact it made things worse.  I started running even faster, in the dark, to finish so I could eat.  I was constantly scanning the area for anyplace that served food - even a fine restaurant.  Could you imagine this sweaty big guy with a military CamelBak barging into a fine eating establishment yelling "WHERE IS YOUR FOOD!"  Well, the thought made me laugh during my run.  I made it back to the hotel just in time for "Soup Night" - ummm broccoli cheese - it will do.

Things to remember:

• Drink more water
• Check to see when the sun goes down
• Eat more food
• Bring more food

Brad