Scouting Expedition in Cool

Today was my official welcome back to the trails. I haven’t been back on the trails in about three weeks. In fact this week is the first official week I have logged any sort of continuous miles. I ran Tuesday, and it was tough. My legs were not clicking and my breathing was off. Wednesday I headed back out and the first few miles I was warming up and it just felt all wrong. But then I found my stride and it was on. Thursday I headed out with Traildog and had a great run. Everything was firing on all cylinders. Friday was my rest day and today Saturday I hit the trails in Cool with some awesome friends for 13 miles of new trails for me.

Coach Nikon explaining the route

I wasn’t exactly too sure how my body was going to react, but I knew I wanted to be out there enjoying the trails with my friends. I headed up with Coach Nikon and we meet Wonder Woman, Boss and Eric, Power Girl and Batman. A great group of friends.

Our expedition leader

We headed out of the Cool fire station very excited about what this adventure would bring. I knew we were planning on running down to the river and that is just what we did. Off on the other side of the canyon we could see the road for Dam hill. It was a nice descent, but I noticed once I neared the base that my legs were not quit recovered yet. I was feeling it in my quads, which made descending a bit challenging along with any sort of climbing.

Regrouping at the intersection.

Looking good Boss

Going down!

You can see the Dam Road across the way

After hitting the bottom we had to climb back out. The trail was pretty steep but also had some sections that were very runnable. I hiked some and then would run some. By this time it was also getting rather warm out. I was sweating bullets, it was very humid out and I am sure I was a bit dehydrated from the start. Once we hit the top we were also on the pavement and then we hit some awesome single track and soon we were on the Olmstead Loop.

Wonder Woman running strong all day

This loop is super fast and it was very tacky. I managed to open up a little bit, but that didn’t last very long. My legs were shot. I was running low on energy and also low on water. I managed to push on and run when I could and I hiked when I needed to. I was just happy to be on the trails once again.

We did manage to take a few wrong turns, but that didn’t faze us we just hooked back up with the trail when we could. We also saw a snake out there and it was pretty interesting to see a certain someone squeal I mean run past it. Soon we finished our loop and we were all still smiling and laughing at the great adventure we had.

Coach Nikon

It was a great adventure, a great scouting expedition and a great day on the trails in Cool. I learned that my legs are not firing on all cylinders, even though I really want them to. It is going to take some time and time is what I have. I have no races planned for the rest of the year and I am just enjoying running whenever I can. No pressure for miles, no pressure for time on my feet, just running for the pure enjoyment of running. That is what it is all about. Running for pure enjoyment. I have found that again!