Trail Runs... Who Knew?

   Not sure if I've mentioned this already, but the 5K trail run I did last weekend in Uxbridge kicked my butt. I had heard through testimonials from previous years that it was a very challenging course but I really was ill-prepared to run it effectively.
   Part of this is that trail runs are a new concept to me--I've been an asphalt/sidewalk runner since I started last August (mixed with a lot of ice, snow and slush). I'd also been unable to approximate the type of trail conditions I thought I might encounter. Back in the late winter I'd found a trail through nearby Warbler Woods which seemed as though it would be great once the weather got nicer. As you are aware, however, the weather never got nicer!
   

The past few days have been nice and today was gorgeous, so I decided to investigate the Warbler Woods trail again, under better conditions.
   I had originally mapped a 5K course using gmap-pedometer.com but when I tried walking the course a few months ago I came out of the woods in the wrong spot. I've driven past the other end of the woods several times and have seen where I needed to come out so today I reversed the route I took the first time, just to be sure I walked the correct way, mileage-wise.

Beginning of the trail.

   From my house, you walk slightly over a K and a half before you even get to the woods so this is a nice little warm-up. The trail begins as a nice little paved walkway which skirts some backyards for a few hundred meters. At this point, there is a fairly dramatic rise and I thought to myself that it would be nice to be running in the opposite direction when that time comes!


The rise begins!

   Eventually, the trail gets away from being paved and heads off into the woods.
   The trail is pretty clearly marked and quite easy to follow. Only the odd section was muddy at all, which quite surprised me after all the wet weather we've had.


Quite the birdhouse in a pretty affluent 'hood!

   This early in the spring there was still very little foliage and you could only imagine how scenic it will be in full bloom.


If you go left...

...the pavement ends and you go around the fence

   There were a lot of ups and downs and twisty little spots and I thought to myself that it would give Uxbridge a run for its money. I also wished I'd been running it for a few months myself, before last weekend. I'm thinking I need to make this a regular part of my run week.
   I was only walking today as I'm still trying to heal up from the p-fash (anybody getting tired of hearing about this?) and I'm just not quite ready to go all out. I desperately wanted to go all out a couple of times today and had to restrain  myself. I guess that means I must be feeling better


Gotta remember to go left here!

  

At this point, I figure I'm about a week away from light running and, after that, we'll see.
   In the meantime, trail running has started to intrigue me. I've had a bit of a taste the past couple of weekends as to what this would be like and I've enjoyed it. Trail-running shoes in the future! Hmmm....Father's Day is coming up.....
   In the meantime, happy and healthy running to you all!