Trail Time

Finally went for a trail run yesterday. I cant believe I waited so long before venturing off road and into the pastures. Living on a ranch, I got pasture land everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. The only problem is that occasionally there are critters in those pastures, locked in by crazy contraptions that apparently are gate locks (and I am not usually smarter then a gate lock...that's a whole different blog).

Thankfully, right now, the cows are not occupying the pastures right next to my house, which happens to be my favorite area to ride my horse, so I took off and went down that road path trail two tracks in the grass.

LOVED it does not begin to describe my run. Mud, sand, snow, then hills with more of the same. Add in debris, cow-pies and occasional "assistance" from my 4 legged running buddy, all of it rocked. My legs were burning before I hit 2 miles.

Did I mention I loved it.

Getting off the road made me think of how I run, it wasn't just one foot in front of the other...it was one foot, lets avoid that stick, try find the flatest path possible and not trip over and land in/or on the cow pie. Then do it all again with the next stride. I had to think....which meant that I wasn't thinking about anything else but my run.

Probably should have been thinking about not vaulting myself from one patch of sand, to the mud in an attempt to avoid the patch of 5 inches deep of snow see where I'm going with this which is when my dog whom I love dearly made the critical error of wanting to play in the patch of snow I was trying to gracefully leap over avoid. Ill save the details of obscenities and death threats to the beloved cow-dog as we all made it back home safely and injury free, which is all that matters. And no witnesses, that part matters also.

Ive been a runner for a year and a half, and living where I live, loving to run as much as I do and always being on the lookout for new routes, I'm kinda shocked and disappointed in myself that it took this long to get off the road. I see many, MANY trail runs coming my way.

Heather and Jamie....you know what that means don't you.....