Training in Montana

20 mile run today as tomorrow is a travel day with no running. A group headed to Wild Horse Island from 9:15-11:15 which was a bummer as I wanted it to be 3+ hours. I decided to get up at 5:25 and run 10 miles then do 10 on Wild Horse. I did a bunch of loops on Melita Island and ended at 9.4 miles before the flag ceremony, showered & changed into fresh running clothes and had breakfast with all the Scouts, then headed to Wild Horse Island with my hydration pack and 1 Liter of Gatorade and some Montana Huckleberry gu. Yum. Wild Horse was great. On my first loop I ran right into a group of wild horses. I was nervous so deferred to a paint horse who came up to me. I started to get some jelly beans to feed him but thought better of it. He showed me his teeth then I turned to run away and decided to just blast through. The horse had followed me, just like a puppy dog, but when I turned and ran he ran away from me. It was cool. A few minutes later I saw a nice herd of bighorn sheep 1/2 mile away on a hillside. I wished I had binoculars. I hit the trail again and ran past the scouts who were doing their 5 mile hike and headed up a steep hill. Why, I don't know. It was a stupid thing to do on a 20 mile day. I got to the top, saw things just a bit higher, then turned back around. Passed the scouts again and headed on a loop back to where the boat dropped us off. I then did another loop around and almost to the start point a thunderstorm started up with lightning nearby. I kept going but upon meeting up with the scouts again learned the boat would be delayed as it must wait 30 minutes after lightning or thunder to travel on the water. Hmph, but helped me get my 20 miles in. I had to run backwards and forwards on the trail to stay close to home but get in my miles. I was happy to be done but I felt good. At mile 14 I felt pretty tired and remembered that the last time I felt like this, at Bighorn 50K, I popped some endurolyte capsules. I took 3 and felt better in 20 minutes. I need to use those more on long runs. 

AP: 11:23

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/204403628