Blogpost: Celery Fields Running

Our next race is in the mountains of Georgia.  Up and down over 56 miles with somewhere around 16,000 feet of climbing and equal descending.  So we decided to do our Sunday long run at a place called Celery Fields in Sarasota, Florida.  It is a county owned park that began as  flooding mitigation fields.  The construction resulted in a huge mound of limestone that remains the highest point in Sarasota county. It is surrounded by ponds and wetlands making it home to a variety of bird species.  Hiking trails were cut out of the mound to make it an excellent area for walking, hiking, cross country races and training for hilly races.  I first learned of it when Addie was running cross country.  They enjoyed training there and may have had a few meets there as well. 

Dogs are allowed but Three-o is not quite ready for those crowds so we walked them 2.7 miles at home before driving to Celery Fields. It was another beautiful day in Florida with a light breeze and low humidity.  The temperature was about 80 degrees F by the time we arrived.  There were paths straight up the hill that were about 0.04 miles long and then paths that wound around the hill up and down like switch backs.  It you did all of the paths and a few extra up and downs you could clock about 3 miles.  We managed to do that with some hill repeats and ended with about 6 miles.  It was the first time testing my ankle on uneven terrain.  I was quite happy that it held up and was virtually pain free running down hills.  I was starting to feel the effort at about six miles so we decided not to risk injury and call it a 6 miles.  We had a total of 927 feet if climbing and 937 feet of descent.  A mere 15,000 feet to go.  

Some folks say they get bored walking.  Try some trails.  You would be surprised at the trails that are close to you that you did not realized.  Enjoy your walk today.