At the end of my last post, I talked about heading into the woods to do something stupid that morning. Me doing something stupid in the woods might lead readers to believe that I was going to be cooking up meth in an abandoned hunting blind or having sex with a woodpecker hole riddled tree carcass. While both of those things are stupid, and more than a little fun to entertain thoughts of doing, I did not. It was stupider.
Yes, I ran. Outside!
I spent a good chunk of my time “doing stuff” indoors this winter on the treadmill. I also spent a good deal of time getting sucked into documentaries about ultra running and trail running (Check out some of the stuff that the Ginger Runner has produced on YouTube). “That looks like fun in a not so fun kinda way, I betcha’ I can at least run a few miles in the woods after all that treadmilling!” I thought whilst sitting in my comfy chair drinking another beer with my legs up.
Then spring came and I got sucked into riding dirt roads, falling in love with riding my mountain bike in the woods again and stomping around local nature preserves on hikes. Yet the idea of running in the woods lingered. So, last week I found a pair of trail running shoes on sale at Moosejaw, ordered them up, and then sat around looking at them for a couple days as I tried to get the balls to actually put them on my feet and RUN in them.
Thursday I got the balls.
I went to the Sylvan Solace Preserve, figuring that the 1 foot of elevation gain and short laps would allow me to ease into running, AND probably be pretty vacant; thus avoiding embarrassment.
I had one goal: 3 miles with as much running as possible.
The first thing I notice upon starting out was “GODDAMN THIS IS WAY HARDER THAN THE TREADMILL!!”
Despite all that I pushed on and actually made nearly a mile before I had to walk a bit. At about mile 2 I passed an old bearded man riding a motor scooter on the trail. I thought I was hallucinating or something! But oh no, I wasn’t.
As I made my way back into the woods I passed him again as he sat perched upon his stopped scooter like he was the fucking Steve McQueen of riding motor scooters in the woods. “How many laps you doin’?” he yelled towards me. Mustering a reply through my wheezing breath I yelled back “I’m goin’ until I pass out! Which should be any minute now!”
Soon after that, I watched as I closed in on my 3-mile goal and got a little spring in my step. I pushed the pace a bit, ran about 10 yards and started to walk again. Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves!!
So I did the first trail run of my life. It hurt doing it, but it hurts worse today. Everything hurts and I feel like I have a hangover (without a headache or stomach issues). I have to admit, I’m looking forward to doing it again!
After the run, I got into a dry T and walked a short lap around the preserve taking a few crap photos.
Heading to a soccer tournament in G-RAP for a couple days, so no stupidity in the woods until Memorial Day.
Later.