Friday, December 14, 2007

Trail Running

Pretty Trail Pic from OKTrailRunning.comI found my new passion. Yesterday, I had lunch with an old friend and had full intentions on going back to the office to work. However, after lunch I wanted to get in my run for the day while it was still light outside. I decided to go to Blendon Woods and run some of the trails. About 1 hour later I had ran every trail they had to offer and I wanted more. It was cold, my feet were soaked, my running pants were destroyed and coated in thick mud splat, my heart was thumping, and I was drenched in sweat... I loved it!

Since it was raining off and on yesterday, I decided to leave the iPod in the car and I just listened to my feet sloshing through the soupy grass. The whole time I ran, I was avoiding all of the roots, puddles, and mud slicks as much as possible. After about 45 minutes of this, I decided to just ignore the 3 inch deep puddles and I started sloshing through them... like a crazy man. It was in these moments that I decided road races were for the birds... I am a trail runner!

When I got home last night, I started looking up all the trail runs in this area. I was surprised to find that there really aren't a whole lot. The big ones around here are YUTC, Hocking Hills Indian Run, and the Mohican 100. I'm sure there are others, but I have yet to find them. I found quite a few in Michigan that I plan to sign up for, but not so many Ohio races for 2008.

The truth of the matter is that I should have known after the Indian Run that trail running was my true passion. When I did the Hocking Hills 20k Indian Run (my story) back in September, I admitted that it was the hardest thing I had ever done, physically. It really was! This is the race that I take the most pride in. Yeah, I did the Columbus 1/2 Marathon (my story) too which was longer in distance, but (like I stated before), it was easy compared to the 12.4 mile trail run. Next year I plan on signing up for the 40k (aka: 24.8 miles). In the meantime, I'm signing up for a full "trail marathon" in April called: The Trail Marathon (ironic?)

I am officially "in training" for my trail marathon (4 months away). When I told the wife about it, she threw her head back and told me that I'm crazy. I think she's right. :)

2 comments:

Kim said...

Ah, another one crosses to the dark side...actually I mean the fun side!!!
Send me an email, at kimba90 at yahoo.com and I will send you some links and websites in OH.

Unknown said...

Holy Sniky, my brother Lucas that used to smoke and not move anywhere is running and explorng the nature.. I´m astonished.. I started to run here in Bucharest, but we lived in southern part in the beginning, where I had to run in huge communist-architecture style blocks. 3 days ago we moved to the northern part of the city, where I live right next to a park.. Let´s see how it will work ou, I´ll let you know.
Best wishes to your 4 women...
Big hug,
Volli