Trail run!

Today J and I went on our very first trail run. I had been itching all morning to go on another walk/run, because I really liked the first one that we went on, and once I got him out of bed, we got dressed and ready to go. He confided in me last night that after work he was suddenly struck with the urge to just run, so he ran from work to where his car was parked. We walked back to the park where we went walk/running last week and we both agreed that today we would explore some of the trails.

We started off just walking on the road through the park, because J wasn't in the mood to run yet. There were a few trails early on, but we decided to keep going because the aerial maps that I had seen showed the most extensive network of trails branched off from the area near the football field. J suddenly decided he was ready to run and he took off. We ran together for a ways but he got tired before I did so I ran further ahead and then turned and ran back to him. I was disappointed to see so much broken glass under foot. I was hoping to actually be able to run barefoot in the park, but it doesn't really look like that will be an option. Secretly, I'm okay with it, because I don't know if I would be brave enough to do it anyway. We alternated between walking and running, exploring the trails. We turned around to come back, because J was getting anxious about the amount of glass on the ground, and we ran down the hill that we climbed on the way in. I also ran across the parking lot because I wanted to rest in the shade and stretch my calves. They weren't hurting, but I figured it was a good idea. We walked back on the paved road and ran down another small path when we were almost out of the park. J noticed some poison ivy so we were careful where we stepped, and I saw a frog! He scampered away before I could point him out to J. We got back to the house and I indulged in a cool shower. Not brave enough for cold, but even the cool water felt so nice. I don't usually like anything but hot water, even in the summer, but the cool water was perfect.

My pedometer says that I went about 4500 steps, which is about 2 miles based on my stride... but I don't know exactly how accurate that is since I'm sure my stride is different for running than it is for walking, and I'm fairly certain that my stride is different for walking near-barefoot than it is walking with normal shoes. I may utilize the 100 yards of the football field in the park to do some measurements in stride, time, etc so I can get a better idea of how my distances.

We also went to Whole Foods today and walked around the store in our Vibrams, after all this walk/running, but my legs still feel fine. I did pre-emptively ice my foot for a few minutes before we left, but so far everything feels great. Trail running is fantastic, and I can't wait for us to go do it again soon. Hopefully next time we will go earlier in the day, because it was pretty hot and buggy by 11am.