ORN: This morning, under a nearly full moon, I ran 3 miles in 33'31". No, that isn't a typo. I ran 11+ minutes per mile this morning. That's the bad news. The good news is that I didn't face-plant, hit a tree, or otherwise injure myself. You see, I ran in the woods in the dark at 05:30. I freaked out a few rabbits with my headlamp, my wheezing, and my stomping, lumbering gait. I feel a little hardcore.
Trail running focuses me. In particular, it focuses my attention onto the ellipse of light 10 feet in front of me -- the only thing saving me from getting swatted by an ent. I couldn't skylark. I couldn't let my mind drift. All I could do was focus on what was right in front of me. When I got a moment of relative calm, I could glance ahead perhaps another 10 feet, but that was rare. I find this experience to be useful. It woke me up, to be sure. But it also gives me a wild, adventurous feeling. I mean, I was no farther than 200 yards from the road at any given point, and I could hear I-64 clearly the whole time. I wasn't in the New Guinea Highlands. But for a few moments, particularly when I chased a rabbit on the trail for about 50 yards, I had a sense of reckless, feral abandon that I don't get every day.
I think I will try to do at least one trail run every week.
I ran on the trails just to the east of Hogan's Fountain on this map. I also ran a bit on the trails just to the south of the Bird Sanctuary. So I didn't run 100% on the trails. There was a bit of a warm up and cool down period on the roads as well as a bit of street-crossing when going from trail to trail. Of the three miles I ran total, probably 2.2 of it or so was trail.
That's definitely adventurous. The woods in the dark - my AHR would've been maxing out while I was walking thanks to Blair Witch visions.
ReplyDeleteYeah: Running on the trails really does force you to pay attention to what you're doing, and that's what I like most about it. It's like with every step you're making a dozen little decisions about where to put your foot. And at the end of the run, you realize that you've gone a half hour or an hour without worrying about work or bills or anything else.
ReplyDeleteAnd I like the fact that it slows me down: I tend to get carried away with the pace when I run on pavement.
I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. I love trail running at night and I love the comment about feeling "a little hardcore." More like "totally hardcore!"
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