Run Strong: On the trail...

water along the west side trail

April 22nd I put in my longest trail run since the Circumburke race back in November 2012. It was a slow start and I tried my best to keep my head clear. You see, I have to run from my house to the trails which is over one mile. A mile not in the woods. Lately if I am not in the woods it seems like a lot of work to be running! Once I got onto the windy single track that makes your head spin as you look for the next safe spot to land your foot, I was good to go. I ran the Ridge trail of Fox forest and started out on the West side (the side I live on). I headed West and looped around to the East side trails. It was a crisp, beautiful morning and the sun was shining which made the run that much better. I ended up taking the east side trails in the opposite direction than I was used to which added to the challenge. I started up hill and kept hitting hills along the way. I love running down these hills, I didn't enjoy running up them all that much...until I started to look around. I stopped a couple times to take pictures.

View from the East Ridge

I also had to stop several times just to get my bearings because the trail markers were worn away and barely noticeable. I get the impression that when I say I am on a trail run people are picturing the maintained/groomed rail trail type of trails. NOPE. They are tough to navigate and barely noticeable at points. When my phone app mentioned I was at a 15 min mile pace, I didn't really care, I was running on this rustic terrain, up hill most of the way...but I kind of cared so I took pictures to document why my trail run pace was so slow. I am ridiculous.

East side trail

Natural bridge on east side

I followed my gut instinct and managed to get around the whole East side without getting lost. I looped back to the West side and headed back on the trails I was familiar with. Ridge trail is approximately 12 miles plus the run in and out of the woods so I completed almost 15 miles on the trail and decided to run the last 3+ on the road. Mistake. Miserable. My Inov8's were not meant for road and were very uncomfortable but I knew if I had stopped by the house to change shoes, I would not have headed back out again! I sucked it up and made my way towards Grimes field so I could run on the gravel for a bit then headed home. I completed 18 in a little over 3 hours. That afternoon I finally got around to looking up a training plan for running a 50k, I was about a month behind where I should be for mileage. I am not so sure I will be doing a 50k at Pineland Farms this year which is a bummer because I really wanted to cross ~~Ultra~~ off my bucket list sooner rather than later. I will at least do the 25k. I still have a couple of weeks to figure it out!