Ragged Cap Runner: Running The Trails In Meadowlily Woods

Well, it's the weekend again and I am on a streak of trail runs for the last few weekends so today I headed for

The main entrance to Meadowlily
Woods. I had no idea abut the
pioneer cemetery, I may need to do
a little research on that one!

Meadowlily Woods, another of London's environmentally significant areas. My plan is to eventually have run the trails in all of them---there are seven and as of today I have run in four of them.
Winter has returned to these parts with a bit of a vengeance but today was sunny and crisp (-4C) and really not a bad day for running.
Getting there essentially involved driving taking Commissioners Road all the way across London as I am in the far west end and Meadowlily Woods is in the far east end. The drive was about 25 minutes but if you're on your way to run instead of on your way to work then it's a wonderful drive!
Depending on how much the trail was shielded by the sun, the running was either on hard snow pack, moist ground or frozen earth. I was extremely happy to still be using my screwshoes as there were many hill climbs and descents that would have have been almost impossible (or at least a lot more dangerous) without them.

Makeshift creek crossing

After taking a look at the trail map, my plan became to "just go left" whenever I came to a junction. I eventually, as I knew I would, ended up having to take a right hand turn and this took me back out to Commissioners. I ran along it until I had another opportunity to dip back into the woods. After a bit I found I was backtracking and ended up choosing to take a side trail, which wended its way down along the Thames River. At this point I basically ran right out of Meadowlilly Woods. I was running along the river, having no idea how far I could go or where it would take me. The trail was wonderful, though, and I made a mental note to come back someday and just keep going on it. Today, though, it was reaching late afternoon and getting colder so at some point I decided to just stop and go back the way I came.

Nice bridge! Not quite as makeshift

What I've enjoyed the most about trail running is that it's not so "performance-based" as running 5K in my own little neighbourhood. I always feel like I've failed running on streets if I don't run just a touch faster than I did the last time. There is none of this with trail running---I run as slow as I want and I rest when I want and I stop and take pics when I want. I wear my Garmin but only to keep track of mileage.
Here is what is happening, though---I'm running faster over longer stretches. What I find is that I start out with a slow trot but then, without even really realizing it, I speed up. I sort of tell myself hey, your supposed to be running slow but then I tell myself but running fast seems right!

Once again, hard to get away
from the might Thames River!

I can't even tell you how good this feels! After a holiday stretch of over-eating and then being sick for the better part of a month, part of the reason for running slow was because I had to. Choosing to and having to are two totally different things that I find are easy to confuse with one another. It feels awesome to hopefully be getting away from having to!