Over the River and Through the Woods, Take Dos

As you can guess by the title, tonight I tried trail running again.  Granted, I'm not 100% healed from the tumble I took last time I went, but I wanted to see if maybe I could do this thing and enjoy it without getting hurt.  I was having fun before the tree attacked me, so why not?  The weather was pretty gross again (53F with a relative humidity of 99%), but it had been dry the last couple of days so I couldn't use super muddy trails as an excuse.  So I went.  And it was fun.  And I didn't fall.  The run was in the Superior Municipal Forest on some cross country ski trails. Just a few observations:

1. The drive there blew.  The road into the forest is gravel, and it was so washboarded that I couldn't drive faster than 10 mph without my car feeling and sounding like it was going to fall apart.
2. Those that know Superior,WI know that it's pretty much flat as a pancake.  So I wasn't expecting the Hills From Hell on this trail run.  Those damn cross country skiers really like their steep uphills and downhills, don't they?
3. The two times I've done these trail runs I look for this guy I used to work with before the race begins and never see him.  And then, when I'm on the last stretch of the run I pass him while he's going back out again.  I think he's doing this just to mess with my head.

It wasn't my fastest run by far, but I am pretty proud of myself.  I was too scared to run down the hills, so I did this hopping walk on the way down, and every time a couple of people would pass me.  But on the uphill I would kick it into gear and pass them all on the way to the top.  Toward the end there were a bunch of people walking up the hills, and I was still chugging away.  I guess running the Big Hill in my neighborhood is really working out. :-)

Today's Run

The trail run today was listed as 5 miles, but I swear it had to be more.  I have no way to know for sure because a) I don't have a GPS watch and b) I'm not 100% sure exactly where I ran to map it out on WalkJogRun.  So I have to go with the "official" distance of 5 miles, and I finished in 46:30, for an average pace of 9:18, which I think is pretty damn good considering I walked down all the hills and finished really strong.  My quads are going to be killing me tomorrow from putting on the brakes so much, but I didn't fall so I consider it a wash.

Overall, I think I kinda like trail running, especially on courses that are less technical like the one that was run tonight.  It also helps that I knew if I fell it wouldn't hurt as much as it was almost all grass.  I think I may just try another, for shits and giggles, as they say.