Dirty Knees

After not being able to get on a trail for almost two weeks I finally got back out there last Saturday. My friend Kay and I went to Kings Mountain and did 5 miles. The weather was not what we would have liked. The temps were about 10 degrees warmer than what we've been used to lately and there had been a torrential downpour for a few hours before we hit the trail. It was a tough run. The mud was fun but it also made for heavier legs and the temp with the extra dose of humidity wore us out. We did take quite a few walk breaks but we still had fun and kept a decent pace according to my Garmin even though it felt like a death march at times. The Boy Scouts were out hiking and we did lots of dodging around them. It is amazing how oblivious teenage boys can be. When we would announce we were coming up on their left the only ones that heard us were there Troop Leaders, the boys never flinched. Ah, the things I have to look forward to with my son!

I didn't get a trail run in on Monday since my son had to skip preschool due to a runny nose. So I waited until Brian got home and ran at the local park. It wasn't much fun and my IT band felt tight at the end. I felt pretty discouraged. I made sure to take extra good care of it over the next few days. My run Wednesday morning at the greenway with the girls was successful, no IT band issues. That gave me hope for my planned 5.75 mile trail run on Friday.

On Friday I hit the trail, literally. I still had Monday's run swirling around my head and I decided to start my run with a ratio of 4 mins of run to 35 sec of walk. I felt good and was cruising along somewhere after the 2.5 mi point and bam I was rolling on the ground! I clearly didn't see the rock/root responsible under all the newly fallen leaves. I was amazed at how fast it happened. I truly didn't realize I was falling until I was already eating dirt. I finished my log roll and popped up to my feet, checked for blood and went on my way. No blood just some dirty knees and hands. The rest of my run was uneventful. My ratio of run to walk went out the window around mile 4 due to all the short but steep inclines. I finished my run feeling good and tough! I finally ate it on the trail! I must say I prefer falling while running trails to falling off a horse!

Today I feel good and the only sign of my tumble on the trail is a tiny bruise on my left hip. I've been contemplating doing an 11k trail race next weekend but I decided this morning that I'm going to skip it. I think it would be just a hair too much for me right now. Kay and I are signed up for a 10k trail race on Nov 14th. Hopefully it won't rain that day or it will end up being a road race and that's just not what I have in mind.