Off Roadin'

I've run trail runs twice.  Maybe 3 times, hard to say.

I would probably do it more if we had something other than the Ho Chi Minh trails here in town, but I get very intimidated back in there as its easy to get confused with all the different 'colors' (which coincide with degree of difficulty).  And it can be pretty scary back in those woods by yourself.

When Luke's announced that they were going to be having a once a month trail run (first Sunday each month), I thought what a perfect opportunity to give it another try to see if I truly didn't care for it, or if it was just done at times where it didn't 'suit' me.

Another reason I didn't do it more was because its slower going, more tactical, and I felt 'weird'.

So this morning I showed up with a few others, and after trying on a couple different styles of trail shoes (Solomon rep was there with shoes for everyone to try if we so desired), I settled on one and off we went.

It was a beautiful morning for a run through the woods.  Around 45 degrees, and a bright blue sky.  It is so serene back there and I was happy to be keeping up in the lead pack.  There were a couple of times that I had to be more careful (hello orange trail!), but it was fun!

Its sad that so many trees were killed off by our drought but its still nice and shaded for the most part (the green trail seems to have suffered the most).  If you do all the trails, it comes out to be something like 8 miles someone said.  I ended up skipping one part, which is where I separated from the pack and went off on my own.

I put in my earbuds and off I went.  I stopped several times at the crossroads to look at the map so that I knew where I was at all times in conjunction to the cars, and slowly made my way back.

I felt like a deer back in there, jumping over exposed roots, there was some mud but not a lot, trying to barrel down the hills and climbing my way back up.

Maybe, just maybe, I'll have to give a trail race serious consideration...I will definitely be going and running back there more often.  I would like to try and do it once a week, but that might prove difficult, but we'll see.   Ms. Karen needs to invite me up her way... :O)