Highbanks 5 K Loop

Snowy Mohican Trail Run

Mohican 100 - 5 am start

Clear Creek 17

Hurricane Nate

Great Seal State Park

17+ Mile Loop at Clear Creek Park

Prairie Oaks 8.5 Miles

Great Seal State Park: Half Marathon - Over 2400 ft elevation change (In Central Ohio?)

Are we Running Slower?

Americans are Running Slower

This link suggests that we are overall running 9 - 10% slower.  This is based on the results of large races with at least 2,000 participants.  You have to wonder if this is really true.  SO many people are now getting into running and entering races at an early point in their training.  They are not too worried about a time but just want to finish.  I think that is a good thing.  The more people that are outside exercising the better.

So  - lets all run FASTER and prove this "study" wrong!

17 + Mile Trail Loop at Clear Creek Park - Check it out!

Battelle Darby Creek Half Marathon Loop

If we listened to our wives.... we would never have any fun.

Half Marathon Loop on the Logan Trail at Tar Hollow

Highbanks Half-Marathon loop

Clear Creek 6.75

Mohican Trail Run: The end of the Root Climb?

Yesterday at Mohican 2017 Trail Runs many of us were surprised that that the popular "Root Climb". at Little Lyons Falls was cut out of the course.  I honor hazard I guess -  but one that made the course unique. I well -  everything changes.

Still a great day with wonderful people across the whole course and most especially at the aid stations!

2017 Mohican 100 mile Trail Run 5 am Start

Prairie Oaks 8

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (1959) Alan Sillitoe

A terrific story that I first read as a high school student.  I think it demonstrates the power of athletics and particularly running in someones life. 

Logan trail South loop Tar Hollow Part 5 of 5

Logan Trail Tar Hollow Part 4 of 5

Logan trail Tar Hollow Part 3 of 5

Nathaniel Mauger Running Zealot: 228 feet. / mile elevation Change: Great Seal Sta...

Nathaniel Mauger Running Zealot: 228 feet. / mile elevation Change: Great Seal Sta...

228 feet. / mile elevation Change: Great Seal State Park

Big Ass Hill / Son of Big Ass Hill / Mohican

Mohican. 20+ mile loop

Logan Trail Tar Hollow Part 2 of 5

Capital City Mt Carmel Half Marathon 2016 - Results

https://runsignup.com/race/results/?raceId=6892&resultSetId=42374&textVersion=

Trail Marathon 50 K. 2017

Logan Trail at Tar Hollow - Part 1 of 5

Tar Hollow Logan Trail South Loop - Garmin

Tar Hollow Logan Trail South Loop

Trail 50 K

https://maugarmin.wordpress.com/2017/04/30/trail-marathon-50k-pinckney-michigan-54-7-feet-mile-elevation-change/

Logan Trail Garmin

Tar Hollow Logan Trail North Loop

Trail Marathon 50K / Pinckney Michigan. 54.7 Feet / Mile

Highbanks 8 mile Loop

Tar Hollow Logan Trail South Loop - 11.4 miles / 1605 Elevation

Logan Trail South Loop Tar Hollow

Logan Trail North

Slate Run Metro Park Trail Run

Slate Run Metro Park Trail Run Part 3

Logan Trail South Loop - Tar Hollow

Slate Run Metro Park Trail Run. Part 2

Great Seal 10 miles. -180 ft / mile

Highbanks 4 miles

Great day for a run -  in between the rain....

230 Ft / Mile elevation at Great Seal state Park!

What a nice day to run.  Sugar Loaf, Bald Hill, and Sand Hill in a 5.5 mile run.  Almost 1,300 feet of elevation change!  That is 230 ft / mile.  That is about 50% more than Mohican or Zaleski.  No wonder I was so slow.  Or could be  - just out of shape.

Slate Run Metro Park Trail Run Part 1

Last Days of Winter at Mohican

Big Lyons Falls - Mohican Winter

Little Lyons Falls - Mohican

Rocks and Roots - First Snow

Logan Trail - North Loop - 163 ft / Mile !!

Logan Trail - North Loop - Tar Hollow - Part 4

Logan Trail - North Loop - Tar Hollow - Part 3

Logan Trail - North Loop - Tar Hollow - Part 2

Logan Trail - North Loop -Tar Hollow Part 1

Pine Lake View - Tar Hollow

Fire Tower Views - Tar Hollow

MUD!, Rocks, and Roots - Trail Slogging -Trail Mud Index (TMI)

Ah Springtime is almost here in Central Ohio.  Time to start ramping up that mileage as the weather warms up.  A perfect time to have nice trail run.  But wait?  What happened to those nice firm trails in January and February?  Now it is slippery, slide mud. Mud, Mud, Mud!

So which trails are the Best and which are the worst?  Here is my list for trails to watch out for and those that are SAFE.   I like running the horse back trails surrounding Alum Creek in the late Sumer through fall and winter.  They can be a nightmare in the spring and early summer.  Beware.  

Outside of Central Ohio I have found that Mohican, Zaleski, and Shawnee State handle water pretty well.  Great Seal and Tar Hollow are not quite so good but better than the Alum Creek Trails.

Trail Half Marathon - Clear Creek Metro Park

Northern Arizona Running

People I like to run with....

Trail Run: Rocks and Roots South Loop - First Snow

Almost 10 miles and 1850 ft elevation at Great Seal State Park

Another terrific day of trail running at Great Seal State Park in Chillicothe.  A nice 10 mile loop that included Sand Hill and Mt. Ives.   A slow hill run. 

Pileated Woodpeckers at Highbanks Metro Parks

Running at Highbanks today and got a view of not one but TWO pileated woodpeckers hammering away on the bottom of a tree.  It was pretty spectacular. I have seen them flying around but never that close and certainly not two.  The wild turkeys are pretty common there.

East Flagstaff Trail Run

I happened to be in the Flagstaff area yesterday and recorded this short trail run.

Tar hollow HILLS: 145 feet of elevation per mile on south loop of Logan Trail

Not quite up to the levels of Great Seal State Park (185 ft per mile) but up there with Mohican and Zaleski.  For me, it is the hills that make trail running fun.  It gives the variety in terrain and difficulty that keeps things interesting.  I would not run if it was just a road or flat asphalt trail - or worse yet a treadmill every time.  Of course those are all important parts of a training program.  it is hard to build speed with just hills but it sure build strength.

Great Seal State Park . -Snowy Winter Run

Taken from the ODNR website:


Great Seal State Park is located just north of the town of Chillicothe and dedicated to the wilderness spirit of Ohio. The history of the Shawnee nation and Ohio's early statehood is centered in these rugged hills. Challenging trails through the 1,862-acre park take visitors to scenic vistas of distant ridgetops and the Scioto Valley below. These very hills are depicted on the Great Seal of the State of Ohio, from which the park gets its name. First depicted in 1803, the seal was often reconfigured until the present image was sanctioned by the Ohio General Assemble in 1967 and modified in 1996. In 1803, the law prescribed the sheaf of wheat to represent Ohio’s agricultural roots and the bundle of seventeen arrows to symbolize Ohio’s place as the seventeenth state in the Union. The range of hills seen in the background of the seal, include Mount Logan, as viewed from Thomas Worthington’s estate, Adena, now a state memorial.