Good Friday Grilled Cheese Run

A 10-mile figure-8 loop around the northern reaches of the Palisades Interstate Park starting and ending at the State Line Lookout Cafe at the State Line Lookout area just south of Exit 3 of the Palisades parkway and going as far south as the Park Headquarters and the Closter Dock Trail via the "Giant Stairs" and two ascents of the 0.3-mile 540 foot Forest View Trail.

Probably 40% hiking and 60% running.

The starting and ending point: the not-yet-in-service seasonal water fountain behind the State Line Lookout Cafe at the State Line Lookout area just south of Exit 3 on the Palisades Interstate Parkway.

On the way down to the Hudson along the Shore Trail just over the New York border at the northern most point of the loop.













Further down the Shore Trail just above the falls known as Peanut Leap Cascade.












Looking back north from the low point of the Giant Stairs with the Tappen Zee Bridge (and a random hiker) in the background.











Typical sections of the Giant Stairs.



Southern end of the Giant Stairs.



















View from the Women's Monument just south of the top of the Forest View Trail ascent.














The Women's Monument.














North-bound along the Upper Shore Trail.














The End.

XC 5K Series Begins

The NJ Trail Series Wednesday night XC 5K series started up again last night. Ran 20:30 -- exactly the same time I ran last year sometime in July the one time I actually raced. Probably went out a little too fast and was sucking wind almost the whole way. Hoping I can take 1:00 off of this time by the end of the summer. Will ran 1:10 faster then he did for the 1st race last year even though he wasn't feeling good and had multiple stitches pretty much throughout. He improved by almost 2:00 from his first race to his last last year and I would think something similar might happen this year.

Long Layoff and Lost Brook Trail Race

Had a somewhat long layoff for all of February and the 1st 2 weeks of March. Got sick for 10 days then had back spasm issues for 4 weeks. Finally got in 2 weeks of somewhat steady running leading up to the Lost Brook Trail Race that was held in the Tenafly Nature Center. Back in the fall I had harbored fantasies of running near 80 minutes for the 10-mile version of the race. As it was I ran the first 50-mile loop with Will and the second 5-mile loop on my own. Will did the 5 in 52:13. I did the second loop in 41:30. That would have been good for 6th place in the 5-mile race. (5th was 41:00... 4th was in the 37s... so might have been able to snag a top 5). Think a could have done 85:00 if had gone steady around 8:30 pace.

Muddy Marathon is at the end of the month so need to keep re-building the base and get in some big hills.