AM- Barry and I ventured to a new trail today, Issaqueena Forest, part of the Clemson Experimental Forest. It is has a smorgasbord of trails winding all over the place. Being unfamiliar with the region and finding an extreme dearth of any kind of trail markings, we restricted ourselves to a fairly small portion, though there was still more than adequate trails. Primarily beautiful, soft singletrack over constantly rolling hills, with a bit of fireroads mixed in. 32 deg at the start, 40 deg at the finish- perfect. Saw almost as many deer as people (including my first ever eastern Whitetail deer- they have HUGE white tails!). We spent some of the time ranting about the state of our country and the government (although, as anyone who has run with me will confess, I did most of the ranting and Barry mainly listened). Finished feeling pretty good with 20 miles exactly in 2:53 (8:39 avg) with 2300 ft climbing/2300 descending. Fabulous way to start a Saturday. The high the next 2 days in Greenville is mid-60's. Perfect- this is how I imagined southern winters. I ran 24 miles Mon-Wed this week, then 42.5 Thur-Sat. I feel good and my body is wanting to do more, but I'm trying to be cautious and hold back so I don't do too much and get injured. But I'm starting to feel in shape. 
Like I said, a smorgasbord of winding trails... 
... with lots of ups and downs 
I miss Logan's mountains, but I sure don't miss the winter air (shown here on the right)- and sometimes it would be like that for weeks straight. Blah.
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