Muddy paws

Winter took a break today, and I knew that I needed to spend a lot of time outside to take advantage of the beautiful weather. I had a 5.5-mile run scheduled for tomorrow, so I decided to do it today instead. I did not feel 100% during the past two short, slow runs this week, so it may not have been the best idea to skip a day of rest, but I had the day off of work and felt that doing the run today would be best for my schedule.

At first I wasn't into it. The trail was still icy and snow-covered in places, and in spots where the sun hits it, it was muddy. I had a bit of difficulty picking my way to the best footing, and it was a little rough on my ankles, shins, and apparently my right foot, and mentally I wasn't into it. I just had no motivation, and by mile 1 I wanted to turn around - and not just turn around and run back, but turn around and walk and basically do nothing. As much as my mind told me to stop, though, I kept going, and I'm glad I did. By mile 2 I felt much better. My legs were a little tired from the uneven footing, but my breathing felt great, and the distance didn't seem like much at all. At the turn-around point, I thought with great satisfaction that until last May, this same route was the farthest I had ever run.

Somewhere between miles 1 and 2, I came across two women walking dogs. One of the dogs was very friendly and left some lovely muddy paw-prints on my shirt. It's a new fashion trend.


Toward the end of the run I felt tired, but I got a second wind at mile 5 and was able to finish pretty strong. When I finished, I saw another runner who asked about the trail conditions. She wasn't too daunted. As she said, you can usually assume that if you run on this trail, you're going to get dirty.