trail running

yesterday i ran in lapham peak as i often do.  my work hours have changed so i didn't arrive until just after 5:30pm.  the temperature had changed and it was a comfortable high 60s or very low 70s... i'm not entirely sure. 

i pulled up to a mostly empty "evergreen grove" parking lot (the first right turn you can make after you enter the park) and parked my car.  this is the lowest point in the park and where i almost always run from.  it ensures that i will get the whole route... whichever i choose to run.  i generally run the black loop... otherwise known as the "moraine ridge trail", and today was no different. 

i began my run at a pretty brisk pace and because it felt good to do so... i continued on at that pace throughout the whole length of the languid meadow (which is just under a mile before the lumbering hills begin).  i felt so free flying along the open planes of the lush green meadow!  as i was running along i decided i was going to try and run up the whole length of the first hill named "south hill".  it is a particularly challenging hill in that it teases you with not one but two seemingly flat spots where you think you've come to the end.  you have not, in fact, come to any such completion until you've passed both of those blissfully almost flat respites from the hell you're quads are in.

i arrived at the hill feeling elated and strong and started powering up it.  my garmin read near an 11m mile on the hill which is pretty good.  while trucking up the hill i just kept reminding myself of the deliciously sweet downhill that comes next.  then... i made it!

i took a sip of my beverage (water mixed with orange gatorade) and sped down the next hill with wild abandon!  it was so fun.  i still felt strong and ran on.  i was maintaining at a pretty decent clip and enjoying cool air washing over me as i went down into the valley.  it looked like the edges of the trail were trimmed back which littered the trail with green and gold clippings (very "GO PACK GO").  there were many more hills to climb so i slowed my pace some and just really reveled in the movement of my body.

it was such an amazing run.  i felt so strong and free.  trail running is nothing less than magical... i promise you.  if you've never run trails i encourage you to do so. 

i finished my run in just over an hour (1:03:19 to be exact), and averaged out at a 9:37min/mi pace.  the trail says it's 7mi but only once has it measured out to that distance for me.  all in all i ran 6.57 miles and am going to do it all over again today.