Trail Running

I have not been out on a trail in a while, and I think the last time I was on a trail I walked most of the time. So Saturday morning was a lot of fun! Well...getting up at 5am wasn't that fun. Thankfully it was around that time that I had to get up to use the bathroom anyway, so I actually woke up and started getting ready before the alarm clock went off. I enjoyed a nice breakfast of G2 and headed out to pick up Becky. We were both considerably more awake than I thought we would be at 5:40 on a Saturday morning!
Why were we so awake? We were meeting about 30 other marathon and half-marathon hopefuls to run the trails at Shelby Farms as part of the Breakaway Marathon Training. We thought we were only running 3 miles, and I had mentally prepared myself for that. Then we found out we were going to run 4 miles. In the back of my head I thought that I might have to walk at least a little bit of the trail. Then we found out that really the first two miles of the run would be on a gravel road. Uggh... Straight roads are not my cup of tea. Straight gravel roads are even worse because of the extra effort it takes as you plop each foot down and bring it back up again. But, we were surrounded by bunches of eager runners, and the temperature was a beautiful 65 degrees, so I tried to tell my mind that it would be okay.
During the first two miles, I found my stride (albeit a very slow stride), and I kept telling myself that I had to keep running. Lately if I stop in the middle of a run, I find it very difficult to get back to running, and I did not want to walk for 3 miles! There was a girl in front of us doing the run/walk thing, and every time she walked, I told myself "you are stronger than that! keep running!" Just about at the time that I was getting insanely bored with the gravel road, we turned onto wet grass and headed into the trees for the trail run. Becky picked up the pace (I swear...she might disagree with me) because there is something about running on spongy damp ground that puts an extra spring in your step. You are surrounded by trees, it smells awesome, and there are sounds of birds and bullfrogs to keep you company. I felt great until about the last half mile, when I started to get super winded, but I kept telling myself to keep going! Becky was also a big help as she told me she was impressed with how far I had gone. When someone tells you that, you cannot start walking - you have to finish running.
We finished at 57 minutes, which had to be more than four miles because we were definitely running faster than a 14.25 minute per mile pace. I chugged a good bit of G2 and neglected to stretch (ooo...would I feel that later in the day!), and pretty much felt amazing. I don't think I could have run 4+ miles out on the roads Saturday morning; there is something fun about running through the woods that gives me a bit more energy than running past mailboxes.
Will I run the Overton Park 5 miler this Saturday? I'm still trying to decide. At first I was not, since I should probably stop paying to run. But after the fun I had this weekend, and the awesome feeling in my body from getting my blood and endorphins flowing, I might just have to plunk down the $18 and run through the woods again.