Mountain HWY Loop Run

There is only so many ways to make running in Marysville new and exiting, and this morning I just couldn't figure out a route long enough fun enough to feed on.  So ... we drove to the mountain loop HWY between Darrignton, WA and Granite Falls, WA ... I got dropped off at the south end of the compacted dirt road by SGF and started my way North to meet SGF at the end of the trail ... just because I am awesome like that LOL ...

The loop in is pink / red and the compact dirt trail part of it is in brown.  The entire  trail portion is 13.5 miles.

There is more information available on the Mountain Loop HWY at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Loop_Highway

 

Snapshot of the route I completed from the Hal Higdon Marathon training app.

Run stats: 13.54 miles; 02:13:22 hours; 09:50 min/mile.  The elevation change was 281 ft.  The base elevation for the run was around 1500 feet which for me is a change from the usual sea level runs.  I actually expected a more difficult run because of the altitude but in the end I just found myself regulating my breathing a little bit more but I was never out of breadth.

The route was downhill for the first few miles then I hit a pretty nice climb.  Some of the hills towards the north end were pretty steep though ...  Beautiful scenery.  Felt the fresh breeze blowing on my body as I ran pass waterfalls ... the warmth of the sun between the tree shades on the trail ... the rumbling of the white waters under the bridges ... at times it felt like the river was racing me along .... It was simply an amazing run.  SGF and I drove the loop on July 10 so I have a few pictures that I can share here with you ... 

The reasons I run have changed over the months but today I didn't care why I was running, I wasn't thinking about the marathon ... I felt blessed to be there,  to be able to interface with Mother Nature in the most basic form a man could ...