25.54 miles in 4:17:47, 10:06/mi, HR 152 & stretching. Sunny and warm (76F in the shade and the finish). Ran up into Elbe hills, Memorial Trail East to Upper Elkspur, west to mysterious Diamond trail, turned around and back to Memorial Trail West back home. Stopped to refill bottles twice at Little Mashell river headwaters....hope they're clean but no choice in the matter because of the heat. The trails were pretty gnarly....older clearcuts and older forests were okay to rough, but newer clearcuts had logs and residue all over the place. Trails are in desperate need of some TLC in many spots, so when I return I really need to contact the organization that maintains them to get my trail hours in on them. Death march return, barely managing 8 minute miles downhill. Overall about 9 paved miles, 8.5 trail miles, and 8 fire road miles. I think this might be good prep for the "Trail for Hell" portion of the Cascade Crest 100. Too bad I'm so beat up after only 25 miles. | 