Changing it Up

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Last year I went on numerous hikes/ trail runs.  I would power walk up and run like a crazy person down them.  It was fun.   🙂   This year, with so many races and wanting to PR  a few, I was leery of trails.   Too afraid I would do something stupid and hurt myself.  Ego got in the way of fun.   😦     With my recent inability to maintain pace, I have decided to treat it like  good thing and get back off-road.  With that line of thought, I went and bought myself something pretty-trailshoesI figured that maybe an actual pair of trail shoes would be a good idea.  A little more traction for the times I careen wildly down a hillside.    Plus the purchase would help me guilt me into following through when I am feeling like a slacker.   🙂   Trails are the place where I have fun and don’t mentally berate myself for my pace.   I took my shoes for 3.5 mile spin around the lake in the dirt on Tuesday.   They felt great, so today is was time for a baby trail.

The easy part
The easy part

I was looking to start small, so my mom and I headed to the trail from the Firehouse 5K run.    It’s around 3 miles, give or take.  We headed up the back way, thinking we would hit the switchbacks on the way down.  Fine by me, switchbacks suck.     My shoes felt great in the loose dirt.  The only problem was my huffing and puffing.  It wasn’t humid so I thought I could get by without using my inhaler.  No luck, but I also hadn’t been stupid enough to leave it behind.    Gaining 500 ft in 3/4 of mile didn’t help either, but after using it I was fine.   The rest was mostly downhill, ha!

We made it! ( a little windy, too!)
We made it! ( a little windy, too!)

IMG_6789 IMG_6759The view from the top* was great as usual.  My mom wanted to go down a different path just to see where it went.   I think we lost most of that 500 feet in 1/4 mile.  I like downhill but this was ridiculous.  The sand was so loose, we kept sliding.  We slowed to a crawl-like pace but we made it.   Thank you shoes.  We came across a Y in the trail so we just picked one.  It led to another Y and again we just picked one.  The mountain’s not that big so we figured we wouldn’t get too turned around.  Plus this leaves more trails to explore another day.      IMG_6762

Where I started sliding
Where I started sliding

A little past 2 miles, we could see the road and figured that we had accidentally cut the hike super short.  It was getting pretty hot so we decided that we could deal with that instead of heading back the way we came.  Coming down the trail we came across 2 rows of white stone boxes on the right side and a few more on the left.  One was open, empty and a little broken.     Being the smart asses that we are, we start cracking jokes about the X-Files and vampires.

very large and ominous looking
very large and ominous looking

It looked like we were coming into the back of a park.  As we got closer we realized it was a cemetery.    Ok, the boxes make a little more sense.  But still stone?  Bad form for our previous wise cracks.   It was very pretty as we walked through to get back to main road. But I was also confused because the headstones seemed really close together.   I did Google it later and found that due to flooding over the years, not only have headstones moved but some graves have as well.  Some were moved to other cemeteries but the records are not the best.   IMG_6784

We came out on a rural highway.  We were actually about 1/2 mile away from where we parked but the road had wide shoulders.     Walking back put us around 3 miles.  It took us about an hour though, so it felt like a good workout.   So now it’s on to the next trail.  🙂

*I took a pretty cool panorama but it refuses to load-ugh.

How was your weekend?

Ever get turned around and end somewhere totally random on a run/ hike?

What’s the strangest thing you’ve encountered?

15 thoughts on “Changing it Up”

  1. Those trails are amazing! The strangest thing I’ve come acrosss … hmmmm that would be a gator crossing the sidewalk next to a major highway lol 🙂

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  3. Sweet kicks!! Trail shoes are amazing when you’re used to regular ones, aren’t they? I got so used to mine for trails that when I wore my regular running shoes to a race that ended up being mostly trail, I was slipping all over the place and so worried I was going to fall on my face. Stumbling on that random cemetery is a little creepy… I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anything that weird on a run!

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    1. I never even ran in good running shoes, I would usually hit the trails in old worn out running shoes. There were so many times I almost fell. Right? Part of me wanted to turn around and go the other way but that would have been the mountain again!

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  4. I did a free run last night 1.5 mi – on a full stomach, and it hurt, and this morning I waited for the storm to pass and did a full 2 mi, but man it hurt to breath, but it wasn’t that cold out! But, I really felt that the run/walk was a fail, until I checked my time, and hit a 15 min mi on both outings! Which means I’m actually improving even though it hurts!
    And, I know you don’t know me, but there is no where else I can type that in and someone will understand! Plus, since I don’t know you, any judgement is easier for me to take! LOL. So, it’s not on track really for what you asked, but I have to be able to someone my run/walk times! 🙂

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    1. That’s awesome!! You should totally share anytime you want to. It’s funny how with blogging you get to know people but don’t know people. But I love that we can share our successes (and sometimes disappointments) with other people who might understand. Congrats, again!

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  5. I definitely love a good trail run – it’s the best thing to break up a running funk! Looks like you had a great time, and it’s awesome you have your mom on board to run with! I’m kind of jealous 🙂 enjoy those new shoes… Go get em dirty!

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    1. It was fun! She’s excited I’ve decided to get back out on the trails, she knows I won’t run them alone. Ha! I usually try to keep my running shoes looking clean, now I have to switch gears to wanting them dirty. 🙂

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  6. Trail shoes make all of the difference! Yikes, the stone coffins do look creepy…I don’t know how I feel would running in to those! The strangest thing I have encountered on a run was probably this guy dressed as the grim reaper (it wasn’t anywhere near Halloween). It was dark outside and he was on the same side of the sidewalk as I was. I couldn’t see his face underneath the hood, and as I ran by he started to open his robe! I was running at top speed, he freaked me out so bad!

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