New Trail

   In preparation for the Uxbridge 5K trail run coming up in the spring, I have managed to find a hillier course in my neighbourhood. As hilly as it may be, though, it still follows sidewalks and roadways. It has occurred to me that trying to find an actual trail run might be to my advantage.

The beginning of the trail

   A few days ago I went on gmap-pedometer.com and managed to find a 5K route which contained 2K worth of trails through Warbler Woods here in London. Today was my first opportunity to investigate it.
   The actual trail part of the run begins near the crest of the hill on Byron Baseline leading out of Byron toward Westdel Bourne. The trail occurs about 1K into the run and, by the time I had climbed to the crest of the hill just to get  to the trail, I was already exhausted.
   It was kind of nice to get away from the road and head into the woods and this was the first time since I began the running adventure that I'd been able to do this.

The hill I'd just climbed...

   The running in Warbler Woods was difficult. There had been a fresh three centimeter snowfall and the footing was treacherous. It was treacherous mainly because of the terrain--hills that went straight up and then straight back down, tree roots, piles of leaves and fallen logs. It was very slippery.
   It was so slippery that you really needed to get a good run at a hill just to get up it and there were a few hills where you needed to hold onto a tree on the way down or you were going to be on your ass.

...and the one I was ABOUT to climb

   All the same, it was a beautiful run. I can hardly wait until spring and the forest returning to its greenest. Until the spring, though, I may not return--the prospect of spraining an ankle, breaking a leg or possibly even an arm was way too daunting. As a beautiful walk in the wintry woods, however, it would be hard to beat.
   On my way to the woods and then on my way back from the woods I ran across tracks in the reasonably fresh snow I had never seen before. If I had run into these tracks any winter other than this one, I'd have been at a loss as to what might have caused them. This winter, though, I knew exactly what they were--they were the marks left by a runner wearing YakTrax. YakTrax are a device that can be worn over running shoes in order to obtain greater traction. I talked about them in an earlier blog post called "Whether Weather". So far this winter, I really haven't needed them. While slipping and sliding in Warbler Woods, it occurred to me to wonder whether they might have been helpful under those circumstances. I thought not. What I remember thinking I really needed was football cleats...


YakTrax tracks

   It's been an interesting winter so far. Not a lot of snow but enough to have to deal with it. Not a lot of frigid weather but enough to have to deal with it. As the weeks have unfolded and I've had to deal with seemingly something different in each one of them it occurs to me that this particular winter is close to ending. Time flies when you're having fun? Maybe!