It Only Looks Like I Was Lost

My training schedule called for 15 miles this weekend. A variety of issues - including a viewin :( -kept me from running on Saturday. I was feeling less than enthusiastic about running on Sunday. I couldn't decide where to go - likely alone - that would keep me smiling and moving. I had just been to Forbidden Drive for the 13 miler last week and I didn't want to go there again so soon and the Perkiomen Trail - although I do like it - wasn't doing it for me right now. I'm not sure how I got to my final decision but in the end I decided to go for time instead of miles and hit the trails at Ridley Creek State Park. 15 miles would generally take me 3 hours so I decided to spend three hours on the trails.

Click here to see my route as tracked by my Garmin.

I started on the White Trail from area #16. At area #9 I skipped over to the Blue Trail. From area #9, the Blue Trail is an out and back lollipop trail. Before finishing blue, I came to the intersection of White, Blue and Red and veered off to cover the full length of the Red Trail in both directions. Then finished the Blue Trail back to Area #9 and resumed the White Trail back to #16.

I finished the white(green on the map)
blue and red trails today.

 

I HAD A SO MUCH FUN!

 

In fact, when I got back to #16 I was actually disappointed to be finished. However, I was also tired and hungry and the trails were getting slipperier (is that a word) as the temps rose so I stopped anyway. Better to quit on a high note. :) The total time was less than 3 hours - 2:45 - but I'm very pleased.

The first hour was a bit rough. I was walking more than I had hoped but after my legs became acclimated to the up, down and bumps in the road of the trail I picked up confidence and ran more. The second hour was spent almost entirely on Blue and Red and both seemed more friendly to a newbie trail runner. This boosted my confidence a lot so in the last 45 minutes I was much better at tackling the ups and downs of the White trail better than at the beginning.

I am proud that my butt did not hit the ground once. Of course there was some pretty funny acrobatic flailing several times to make sure that didn't happen. And twice I came within inches of the ground. I will likely feel those saves in my shoudlers tomorrow. :)

There was no way to do this but turn around
and crawl down backwards.

The steps and both sides were ice on top of snow