6 Miles

It was a chill 40 degrees outside as I got to the trail today.

Time to up my rucking game a bit.

 Since the Group 10-mile ruck is coming up on November 22, it was time to increase the mileage.

For additional difficulty, I added 5 pounds to the pack, bringing it to 40 pounds.

First three miles were done in just under an hour at an average 19.55 minutes a mile pace. 

The nature trail is different every time I ruck it now.

Can you spot the three deer in this photo? 

In addition to deer, many ducks were hanging out.

Not a ton of people on the trail,  as the cooler weather reduces people showing up, but still quite a few.   But most of the time I pretty much had a good portion of the trail all to myself, occasionally passing others or them passing me from the other direction.  All good and the solitude and quiet while moving through the woods was rather nice. The noisiest thing, aside from passing people talking on their phones, was the squirrels running through the brush.

By mile five, I could definitely feel the hike, and my feet were informing me that they were no longer enjoying the process, and why did I add another five pounds to the pack, anyway? 

But I pressed on, and completed my 6 mile goal.

 Pretty much achieved 6 miles in 2 hours which was the plan.

Not a bad way to spend a beautiful morning.