It's good to be on a trail again

I did something fun on Saturday.

I went on a trail run.

Now, unless they've been paying close attention to this blog and my training log, friends who know are certainly wondering, "So what? Steve is always trail running." And normally, they'd be right. But looking back on my logs, the last time I actually ran on something other than a treadmill belt, asphalt or track was October 17th - when I DNF'd a 50K after falling and banging up my knee.

This last Sunday was January 15th. Nearly three months without any dirt. What was I thinking?

I don't know - because let me tell you - it was downright glorious. Now, I was planning on hitting the trails that day anyway - and the weather was not being taken into account. But as luck would have it, Saturday was the first really beautiful semi-warm day we've had in a couple of months. It was well over 50F with blue skies. My schedule didn't allow me to run until the mid-afternoon - by then the trails were muddy, snowy - and in a couple of places, treacherously icy. And my hill-fitness desperately leaves something to be desired. But none of that matters. I ran a couple of flat miles and then hit the hills. Probably half of the run was rocky and technical. An hour and 16 minutes on the trails went by faster than 20 minutes on the treadmill. I walked probably half of the uphills - and averaged about 13:20 for the whole thing. Slow - but happy.

If you're a reader of this blog who deprives yourself of the pure unadulterated pleasure of trail-running - you have no idea what you're missing.

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