So You Think You're a Trail Runner?!?

Today was basically the first time that I've ever REALLY done a trail run.  I've run the trails at Starkey, but it's been a while.  After a 12 miler yesterday, I knew that today wasn't going to be either a long or high-intensity run.  Ben and I met up with JM at Trout Creek right after they opened around 7 am.  If you have never visited this park, here is a map:

It is $2 per car, but has off road biking and running trails as well as bathrooms and a bike/person wash.


We started off at Trout Creek and ran about 1.5 miles across the street to Morris Bridge park which was really busy.  The trails are single track and had quite a few roots, but we were able to get into a little groove.  I decided to head back to the trail head a little early because my legs were already getting tired and I didn't want to hold anyone back.


As I was running along the trails, it was kind of surreal feeling.  The birds were singing, the sun was slowing coming up, and it was just me all alone.  It was really relaxing and beautiful.  I got back to the meeting spot and I walked around a little.  I was thinking that I wanted to do a little bit more mileage and figured that I would have enough time to do the outgoing loop one more time before JM and Ben got back from their run loop.


So I started out again, and got to the turning point and was feeling really good and knew that it was only going to take about 10 minutes or so to get back to the meeting spot.  And then, the next thing I knew...I was on the ground.  Covered in dirt.  Here's a look at the damage:

After a little clean up:

It's really not that bad.  The worst part was cleaning it out with alcohol. Ouch!

But now I officially have my trail running badge of honor. :)