Come Run The Hidden Pine Trails Of The Forest

I was on vacation last week for Thanksgiving.  My family has gone camping the week of Thanksgiving since 1962.  Wait a minute.  Whoa.  That’s 50 years.  I’m going to let that sink in for a minute. 

It’s nice to sit in a camp chair and know my hips don’t exceed the sides of it.  J

It also helps that the chair has an hourglass shape built right in. I know, I know – I don’t have an hourglass shape yet, but a girl can dream, right?

Okay, back to my blog.  I wasn’t about to blow off running just because I was on vacation, so Monday morning I laced up my shoes, left camp, and ran for 55 minutes, keeping up my schedule of 5 minutes longer each time two days a week.  I ran 4.4 miles at a pace of 12:36, a minute faster per mile than I‘ve been running!  Woohoo!  Thank You, God, for giving me the ability and the desire to run that far! 

On Wednesday I did an exercise DVD with my cousin.  We exercised our bodies and entertained our teenage daughters.  J  For a  minute we were afraid they were going to put pictures or videos of us on Facebook or YouTube.  (Thank you for not doing that, Brianne and Katie!) 

On Friday it was time to run again and it was time to do 60 minutes.  A whole hour of running.  A milestone.  I also wanted to run on a trail since we were in the woods, so I went to Manatee Springs State Park, very near our camp.  I was armed with my MP3 player for music, my heart rate monitor watch,

 

and my phone just in case I needed it.  I walked a little bit to the first trailhead to warm up, started the music, and began running.  About 30 seconds into it I realized that instead of listening to music I needed to concentrate on not twisting my ankle and falling, so I stopped and put that away.  I started again and just ran.  The trails weren’t marked for distance so I have no idea how far I went.  I know I ran some trails twice and looking at the map now I think I may have missed some.  Oh well.  The objective was to run for 60 minutes straight and I did that.

I ran under a fallen tree. 

 

I ran on sand trails/roads.   

 

Sometimes the trail ended with no warning, but I kept running. Do you see a trail here? 

 

Me neither, but do you think that kept me from running?  Nope! 

 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

It's a little bit hard to see, but there's a trail that goes off to the left in that picture.  That's the way I went. 

Trail running is different from road running.  On the trail I can’t get the speed I have on the road, but the dirt/sand is easier on my joints.  In trail running I need to concentrate on not falling so it works my mind and body in a different way than road running.  I really enjoyed going off the trail and want to do more running like that.  I know of two parks where I can – Sawgrass Lake and Weedon Island.  Trails, here I come!

Finally I had been running for one hour straight!  I stopped my watch at exactly one hour! 

 

Whew!

 

I walked to the spring and took my shoes off.  I waded up to my knees in the icy water to help any inflammation the run may have caused.  Up to my knees was all I could stand and even that was hard to get used to.  I don’t like cold water! 

So I hit a milestone a few days ago.  One whole hour of running!  I'm well on my way to running the entire 10K in a couple weeks!

Getting Closer to the 10K!

The other day I was driving and saw this sign:

 

No, thank you.  No; not thank you.  Just no.  2X is the size of clothes I used to wear (and sometimes even 3X), so I want no part of food that would very quickly get me back there.  Not that I want fake Taco Smell food anyway. 

I got up at 5:00 this morning to do my long run on the 10K course.  My goal was to run for at least 50 minutes, but I wasn’t able to do this course Monday for 45 minutes like I’d planned so I wondered if 50 minutes would be too much of a stretch for me. 

I had to put some gas in the car so I stopped to do that.  I paid $20 and look how much gas it gave me:

 

6.2 gallons.  A 10K is 6.2 miles!  Interesting! 

I got out and started my run up a small hill like usual and then it leveled out.  I ran almost 1 mile to the beginning of the big bridge then started to earn my downhill.  I really felt like I was in a groove this morning.  I’m still slow, but I enjoy running.  Especially this morning for some reason.  I came off the fun downhill and the long flat part wasn’t as difficult as it has been before, maybe because the cold temperature made it invigorating.  I hit the shops on Clearwater Beach chugging along and turned around about a block after Bay Esplanade.  I don’t know the exact turnaround point, but the instructions said it was just after that street so I went a block farther.  Later when I clocked it in the car the turnaround point I used was exactly 3.1 miles.  Yay me!  At the turnaround I was only at about 40 minutes so I continued running back the way I’d come.  Then I switched to walking at 50 minutes.  I made the change to more accurately run the course that the actual race will take and go back across the bridge on the opposite side from the one I’d come over on.  I didn’t know how many minutes I would walk, but I knew I would have to start running again no later than the base of the bridge.  I ended up walking for 18 minutes, probably longer than I needed to.  Live and learn and change it next time.  There was a water fountain so I got a drink and then walked a short distance to the base of the bridge.  I started running up it and saw where it looked like the railing leveled off.  Yay!  The top!  Then why does it still feel like I’m going up?  Sigh.  Whatever.  Keep running.  I finally felt the downhill and then I saw what they call the helix but I like the word spiral better.  There is a spiral down ramp on that side of the bridge instead of just a long slope on the side I’ve been running.  Fun!  There were no walkers, other runners, or cyclists so I had it all to myself! 

 

Round and round she goes!  Where she stops nobody knows!  Oh no; she knows where she’ll stop – the finish line!

Oh.  There’s another hill to run up. 
 

 

I finished running the spiral and ran up the hill.  I knew that it would be flat at the top and that I’d make a left turn there, run a few blocks, and then make another left turn and go downhill to the finish line!  Knowing that made it not so bad. 

I made the finish line (Well, Coachman Park.  I don’t know where the exact start and finish line will be.) in 1:23:42.  That’s a 13:30 pace, which is pretty slow, but later I remembered that I walked for 18 minutes, so when I run the whole thing (notice I said when and not if ;-)) my pace will be faster.  I need to work on getting my pace faster regardless, though. 

I’m going out of town for Thanksgiving but still plan to run two long distances at 55 and (GASP!) 60 minutes and two easy 40-minute runs.  I want to do trail running, though, so we’ll see how that affects my endurance.