My First Trail Run

So as you may remember, I signed up to die run the North Face Endurance Half Marathon next month. In doing this, I figured I may need to run some hills to help me battle the 3,400 elevation gain. Well, consider that done and done. With running parking decks and bridges, I have been and will continue to do so!

But something I haven’t done is actually run on a trail. And being that I like to trip on sidewalks, I figured it was time to put some miles on the dirt. Thanks to Fleet Feet, I got new Brooks Cascadia Trail shoes. And I couldn’t wait to take them out!

I met up with fellow runner Mary Jo and her hubs Gregg at Tom Triplet Park in Pooler. I had never been to this park, so I am thankful to my co-worker who let me follow her there right after work (thanks AK!).

So we start off on the trail and my first thought is, “are all trails this filled with roots?”. I knew the trail was about 6.5 miles, so I decided to just mentally suck it up and enjoy the ride. Oh, and pick up my stinkin’ feet.

It was a blast! Hard, but fun! The only thing I had a real hard time was, was focusing. I would look directly in front of me because of all the roots, logs etc and get nauseous or feel like I was gazing at some psychedelic poster. Anyone else get that? Any remedies? I was scared to look too far ahead for a fear of missing something like this…..

Yep. A flippin’ copperhead!

6.5 miles with 5.5 on the trail. BAM! Sadly, my new Garmin didn’t pick up all the miles, I was off by 0.3 the whole time and it said our pace was about 19 min/miles which was not the case. Oh well!

*****

While you are here, check out my friend Cayla’s website to help fight cancer. Cayla lost her mother to cancer and has been an advocate to find a cure since her mother was diagnosed. I am so proud of Cayla and her efforts. Check out the Beaute Social contest to win a makeover and photo shoot with some pretty awesome Savannah vendors! www.stepuptothefight.org

And another Savannah runner, Katie, has a promo code for the Color in Motion 5k in Jacksonville that is coming up! Check it out HERE. The race is December 29th, which sounds like a great way to ring in the new year!

*****

Any tips for trail running?

Comments

  1. Great job killing those miles and thanks for not getting bit by a copperhead. I would be bummed to lose my friend ;) See you SOON.

  2. Great job on the trail run! We may not be here for Christmas but if I was, I would so do The Color Run. That’s my birthday! Happy Birthday to me!

  3. Sounds fun! I’ve never really thought about doing a trail race, but I feel like as a runner it’s something you should try at least once! Maybe I’ll start out small with a cross country 5k since I’m so used to pavement :)

  4. Yay for the trail run. I still consider myself a newbie on trails and find them quite challenging. Best tip I ever got was to look about 10 feet in front of you to plan your next steps rather than down!

  5. Mary Jo Geiger says:

    So glad you came out to Pooler to run the trail with Gregg & I. We had fun. I too get dizzy feeling looking ahead to close. I have to look further out– which is why I missed the 2 snakes we came upon on our travels! Hope to run with you again soon.

  6. embrace the wilderness. It really is a different animal, but it’s quite peaceful and a wonderful experience. You will probably trip and fall, but it’s okay. Just keep moving forward and pretend to be a wild beast that is unleashed in the jungle.. woods?

  7. Impressive! Snakes are the exact reason I am having trouble with the whole trail running idea. I went out the other day in a beautiful area & only went about a half a mile before I chickened out and turned around….and I didn’t even see any. :-/

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