After walking around Chautauqua with Allison, Amelie, Isabelle and Sierra, I got an hour long pass to hit up Green Mountain while they hung out on the lawn next to the van. After a ~5 minute casual warm up to the Gregory TH, I started my watch and headed up Amphi/Saddle/Greenman at a moderate, but lousy feeling pace. My legs felt like lead and it was as though I were running on a slippery treadmill and seemed as though I was going nowhere, or at least nowhere fast. I debated cutting the run short, as to not hold up the family, but I just kept going, not pushing, but not really holding back either. My time splits were nothing great, but not as terrible as it felt, so I pressed a little bit harder for the next 8 or 9 minutes above the Saddle Rock/Greenman Junction (only because it is flat/down for a short while) and then slowly faded toward the end, topping out in a better than anticipated 33:55. Nothing great, but much better than I would have guessed early on. My final split was actually close to PR pace, so I guess I just needed a bit of a warm up. The final switchbacks were coated in a light dusting of snow, a nice surprise and a reminder that Winter is right around the corner on this first day of November.
Splits:
Up:
6:44
12:52
19:48
33:55
Down in 20:55
