First Trail Run-- I am hooked!

I missed my mid-week run this week because of school vacation.  I usually run Tuesday afternoon while my daughter has dance class, but there wasn't any class this week so I had my regular work schedule.  Yuk.  Between work meetings and multiple late night playoff basketball games, there has not been much time for running or any other exercise.

I did manage a serious spin session on Wed during lunch where I got back to doing an actual workout, not just the crappy lazy kind of spinning I had been doing.  I also did some weights, working on my shoulders and core.  I guess I probably overdid the weight thing because my shoulders were so sore for two days!  I could barely lift up my arms.  I thought a swim on Friday might work out the soreness, but nope.  I could barely sleep last night from the aches in my shoulders and arms.  I guess swimming was not the best way to rest sore arm muscles.  Who knew?  Idiot.  

So today was going to be a run day.  For sure.  It was the only exercise that would have nothing to do with my arms and shoulders.  Kids and hubby left earlyish to ice fish for a local fishing derby so that left me with the day to myself.  Plans were to run, go to the dump (such fun!), get groceries and laundry.  This life I lead.  I know you are so jealous.  

I had planned on doing 5 since I had some extra time and no kids waiting for me at home.  I headed out on my usual out and back route and along the way I pass a preserve that has a hiking trail on it.  Last minute, I decided that if the trail wasn't too muddy looking, I would go ahead and give it a try today.  Why not?  Trail running is supposed to be easier on your joints and even though you have to go a little slower, you are really working a bit harder to maintain your balance, avoid roots and go up and down the hills.  

The trails just looked a little snowy so off I went.   The trails look a little like this:

But mostly like this:

The snow was a little hard to run in so I was mostly at a slog.  But that was fine.  The trail was just under a mile so it was the perfect amount to try and not get too far in the woods and be hating it.  I knew I would like it anyway, I mean, how can you not like it when you get to look at this:

I know.  It's so ugly where I live.

This is 2 miles down the road from my house.  Poor me.

The Land Trust has 17 different hiking trails all within 10 miles of my house.  They are varying degrees of difficultly and length.  I have hiked almost all of them while geocaching, but have never tried to run any of them until today.

On a side note, if you haven't tried geocaching and you have kids, you may want to look it up and give it a try.  It's a great way to get the kids outside hiking and walking.  Basically, you use a GPS to find a hidden "treasure" in the woods that someone else has placed there.  The box will have things in it that you can take, but you must leave something in it's place and sign the log in the box.  It really is great fun.

So anyway, I ran the 2 miles to the trail, ran the trail, then ran 2 miles back home for a total of 5.

I am so photogenic, n'est ce pas?  Good thing the water's pretty.

I'm pretty excited to find that trail running wasn't all that difficult, even with the snowy trails and I can't wait to try the other ones in the area.  I'll bring the dog and he'll benefit as well.  If you live nearby, shoot me a message and we can run them together.  Here's the link to all the trails available if you are interested.   BRLT

Have you done trail running?

Do you enjoy it as much as road running?