Today was a good day but I did get a little lost. I took the train out to Kaiserslautern in hopes to run the trails along the ridge line back home but instead I just ended up running all around the Palatinate forest. I ran on some great trails and saw beautiful scenery but before I realized I was going the opposite direction of home, I was already about 3.5 hours into the run. You might wonder how someone who is running with GPS and with an iPhone can get lost…but really it is quite easy. First, the Garmin Back to Start feature is great if you want to go back to the start…which I wasn't trying to do, that is, until I realized I was just running in circles in the woods. And the iPhone…well, that works great when you have connectivity but I was out in places that had no service. The good news is, I ran exactly 24 miles on trails in 4 hours and 8 mins and felt great.

I did this in my new Hokas and my feet felt surprisingly good even towards the end. This has not been the case in the past with other shoes….so I really think that I'm now a Hoka believer! I also didn't take any gels…I ran the whole way fueling with Tailwind in my hydration pack and two Carbboom powder packs that I put in two handhelds. That was it, and it seemed to be enough!

I did take time to take a couple quick pics along the way…it was too pretty not to!