Old Trail, New Perspective

The morning started out good, my alarm went off at 5am to run the Wilderness Trail at Holly Rec. and my legs hit the hardwood running. Not to bad for 5 hours of sleep. I was able to get a half a cup of coffee down, however, the idea of eating that early was not appealing.

• NOTE....this is one of the things I am going to need to improve in my training for Hennipen  100. I know if I am running more than 2 hours I NEED to eat. Quite realistically...I should be eating anyway!

Without giving my 6am trail run a thought I headed to Holly Rec. I was meeting Rachel, Claudia and Kayla was joining us for the first time on the trails.

Driving unto McGinnis, Rachel called to warn me. The gate was closed to the park, the park doesn't open until 8am! Rachel directed me to another parking lot on the other side, where the other girls followed.

We parked and headed into the trails from another trail head. I get so giddy trying new things, Even if it was the same OLD THING, it was a New Perspective.

We let Kayla lead because she was the first one that had to get out of the trails. She was in for 1 loop.

OK...Note to self, be prepared to sweat, huff and puff when you let a young whipper snapper lead who is trying to qualify for Boston in the fall.

Kayla was power housing it up all the hills that we normally WALK. She wasn't even sweating. She had to swing back around to connect back with us. I ran in the gap, in-between Kayla and the girls.

There was still quite the distance between Kayla and I. We were NOT in conversation range. This was actually really awesome, not just because I was not capable of complete sentences and thinking. I had no pressure to talk, respond, all I had to do was run. I was loving running at this challenging a pace. My body responded rather well, I enjoyed pushing harder than normal. The key was we were not conversing a whole lot. I was able to focus and grit it out better.

Kayla shared 1 loop, we brought her pack to the parking lot.

THIS little doohickie was hanging from a tree.

A park Ranger stopped us and asked us "Do you know who's truck that is?" It was mine.

He was not welcoming us like Mr. Rogers. He proceeded to tell us that we were NOT supposed to be in the park until opening hours at 8am and that he could give me a ticket because I was not parked properly AND we were parking in the campers lot.

I took Kaylas parking spot and off the three of us went. We were rather warmed up from trying to keep up with Seabisquit. We did slow up a bit and walk a few more hills.

• NOTE: I discovered I was MORE out of breath walking the hills then just slowly and consistently running them.

After the second loop, I lost all my partners. I headed back out for a solo loop. I felt good. The bugs were dancing all around me and the temps were heating up. The trail gave had a nice breeze that cooled me down and allowed me to smell the woodsy funk I was sporting.

Its a HEART! I found a heart in the woods!

I got to thinking. It is funny how I have ran this trail for over a year but running a different trail head made this loop look all together different. I actually enjoyed the loop BETTER from this end. The draw back was this loop is a little shorter. I ran the last loop strong, running most of the hills. I even ran up the wicked steep hill I am usually wincing all the way up and gasping for air at the top. But running it made me feel better. I shortened my stride, pumped my little arms, looked at the top and got to the top in half the distance with twice as much air left in my lungs!

"If you always do, what you have always done, you will always get, what you always had."

That being said. Todays change made a HUGE impact on my training.

• It reminded me I am stronger on the trails than I have been training.
• God gave me 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason...It is good to just LISTEN. I didn't chat it up today. I didn't really think my words were really missed much anyway. I just enjoyed listening and adhering to what others had to say. You can learn a lot when you truly LISTEN. Listen WITHOUT RESPONDING...try that out this week. Enjoy someone else's words. Enjoy THIER story. And don't share yours...Try it, I bet you learn something new.
• I am going to start running the hills at a slower more steady pace.
• I need to start leading more on the trails. I am never going to get good at navigating if I am always following.
• That I CAN run alone on the trails. It is good to listen to your inner coach. The quietness allows me to be inside my body, be aware of what I am doing, where I am at, how I am feeling and coach myself.

RUNDOWN:

Distance: 16miles

Time: 2h:53min

Pace: 10:48

*NUTRITION on my long runs. I prefer whole foods. I have used Honey Stingers for about 5 years. They are organic and clean. But I still get a belly ache after about 20 miles. I eat trail mix, Honey Stinger waffles and take Juice Plus gummies.  These are WHOLE foods, not a supplement. I never get a belly ache.

ANITA~