After last week’s trail race that didn’t go as planned, I had a week off at the lake. I had a very wet 6k campground interval run during a thunderstorm where hubby and I got absolutely soaked, followed by a 3k Hellish horseshoe climb where I felt at home and back to my “happy place”. Then today was my long run - a 14 k run where I decided to run a portion of the 20k race that I’ll do in the fall. I have only ran it once before, in it’s entirety, last fall and really enjoyed it. Today was no exception! What a perfect day!
I set off at 9 am, 15 C and overcast - perfect! I filled my hydration bladder, added some ice cubes, filled my soft flasks with Tailwind, grabbed a granola bar and some trail mix, plus managed to sneak some gummy candy’s out of my son’s candy stash before it was all gone. I was set!
There was another runner at the trail head that was warming up and looked pretty serious. I did my few dynamic warmup moves, heavily sprayed on the bug spray, said a “Good day for a run” and set off. A nice easy pace through the meadow. I come around the corner and whoa! What is that! A porcupine blocking the trail. I called out to him - Hello Mr. Porqupine, I’m not a threat, I’d like to pass. Nah, he turned to face me, but wasn’t in a hurry to get off the trail. I banged my poles, clapped my hands, and finally he tootled off the path and off I went... again. There were lots of little killdeer flying around, so many colours of butterflies and the flowers! Oh the wild flowers - so pretty. This path was much greener than the last time I ran it, with lots of lush foliage. I came across some lovely bleached out bones, but managed to walk away from them (I may have quite the collection of bones in one of my flower beds from hikes over the years...ya, I’m a little weird!)
I crossed the first water crossing by hopping on stones and balancing on my poles - success! An hour in, my tummy started to growl so I stopped and ate a bit of my granola bar. It went down ok so I tried to eat a little more further in as I ran - well that was a recipe for choking so I stopped and ate some more... then I reached where the Aid station will be race day- right! That’s a good spot to try and think about fuelling, the next time around. Then it got me thinking about some of the goodies they provide on race day and had the light bright moment that frozen 2 bite brownies would be the bomb! So when I get home, I must remember to buy some and toss them in my freezer for the next long run (I figure if I freeze them, they might last until run day.. and maybe they won’t get too squishy in my vest)... but I digress....although that is where my mind goes during my runs.
I carry along through a meadow following the fence line, proving to myself I can actually still run on flatter grassy bits without any problems, despite what last week’s race tried to fill my head with. I came to this awesome climb that is pretty much just climbing up a washout area - it’s steep, it’s irregular, and it is a whole lotta fun! I forgot how fun the climbs were on this loop and how much variation this trail has. It really has something for everybody! I climb some more, I descent some more and now I can see my final water crossing. I remember there is a spring that runs through there so it was a little mucky in areas and the foliage is quite dense. Well, with all the storms we’ve had this week, muddy is an understatement! There was no getting through this area with clean or dry feet! So I kind of just went with it, trudged through the black gooey muck, checked for ticks as I got to the clearing (phew, none!). And carried on. Looking behind me, I see the other trail runner just coming down the hill approaching the water crossing that I just traversed. Huh, I figured he must’ve taken another trail given he hadn’t passed me yet. Sweet! I must be going at an ok clip then, despite my picture taking, eating, and just plain lallygagging. As I was coming down the final gradual hill, I can see someone coming toward me. As I get closer, I see it is another runner. I smile, say hello and she stops to ask me some questions. She wasn’t quite sure where the loop was going to take her but had been warned to come out and run some hills, so I pulled out my handy dandy map and showed her where she was running and what she was in for. I gave her a heads up on all the mud coming up and wished her well. As we were chatting, Mr trail runner from earlier passed us. I got to the bottom of the trail and saw I hadn’t quite reached 14k so I carried on up the backside of the Horseshoe. Unfortunately, my Garmin and Runkeeper were showing quite the discrepancy so I ended up running further up Horseshoe than planned but at least both show that I ran my full 14k... and then some.
So that run is done and dusted and I loved every minute of it. I can run trails, I like to run trails...correction, I love to run trails 💕...I just really like technical trails that keep you on your toes and make you stop to climb and make you feel so alive! It was a great way to end my week of holidays. I may have to work next weekend, but I’m already planning my 16k run on the morning before I go on call! Yippee! I can’t wait to hit my trails again ...in 6 long days 😊
Run Rabbit Trail Mix Challenge
Juicyju's trail bonanza