For the first time, I followed the uphill trail up from Pence Park parking lot in Indian Hills. I'd seen this a few times and asked Jim P about it on one of his posts, but had never actually set foot on it.
The trail is not on any map that I can find, but it's all within Pence Park and it leads to a fun rock outcropping high above the road. On cold legs, this steep trail would have really strained my Achilles tendon and heels, so I hiked a good deal of the uphill. There's nice terrain variety, rocks, forest, some aspens at the top.
Then I crossed the road for some running at adjacent O'Fallon Park.
The point in the middle is the high point of the Pence Park trail:
This snake was warming on the sandy trail and didn't seem to want to move.
Hello, snake. Why so serious?
I tailored my run by the incoming storm, and it started to rain lightly by the time I returned to my car.
By the time I got home, it was raining in buckets, with huge pools of water being sprayed into the air by passing vehicles.
Distance was 8.76 miles, time 2:51 (moving 2:04), elevation gain/loss 2,157 feet, avg. pace 19:33 (moving 14:12), and best pace 8:01.
