My original plan was to bag the summit using the Old Indian Trail route just to get something under my belt as far as mountain running was concerned. Another reason for using just the trail was to allow Rachel and the boys to follow me up under the cover of the cool shade
They managed to only get in about a mile of the climb before stopping at the first ski slope opening to rest. It was just too hot for the boys to continue any further.
Rachel agreed to stay in the shade with the boys while I completed my run to the summit, which was about another mile up the mountain. I left my Camel Bak with Rachel in order to unload as much weight as possible, and continued on.
I continued on Old Indian until the first auto-road crossing where I decided to run the auto-road to get to the summit. Besides being able to get to the summit faster and a little safer, it would also reflect more of the road conditions that I would face at Mt. Washington.
After about 5 minutes on the auto-road I came across a pile of snow! on an 80+ degree day! Only in the mountains. It took me about another 10 minutes of steep road running before I reached the summit where I got a few strange looks from other summit baggers. I quickly looped around the peak marker and headed back down the same way I came.
I grabbed a handful of snow when I passed the snow pile to surprise Rachel. My goal now was to get back to Rachel before all of the snow melted in my hand.
The trip back down the auto road was actually more painful than the run up! Still a sign that my legs are still fatigued from Boston.
I managed to reach a surprised Rachel with still a handful of fresh snow. I was able to get in my 5K for the day by that point, so we continued down the mountain together at a hiking pace.
I felt great after the run and really enjoyed running under the heat. Tomorrow is supposed to be similar at Westford, so I should be good to go as far as running in heat is concerned.
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