Lovely Sunday in the Woods (Citrus Trail Run)

This month is definitely trail run month, as I will be participating in one for three out of the four weekends, culminating in the social event of the season, Croom Fools Run. I will have plenty more to say about that, I am sure. Last Sunday was the Citrus Trail Run, which had various distances. I did the ten mile one, which I think was a good choice because I am not in awesome running shape right now, but I can definitely handle a ten mile. In fact, I quite enjoyed it. I brought my camera again to get some pictures. The area is north of Croom (near Inverness, FL), but the same kind of terrain.

Nice pine forest

Quiet morning in the woods

I was fortunate to get there right in time for the sunrise colors that were particularly nice as a backdrop to the woods.

View from my parking spot

It was also nice to be out in the spring, since there are flowers.  I went for a run at Croom the day before and saw some of the same.  These are definitely not out year-round; in fact, I am wondering if these are only in March!

The trail itself was very peaceful.  It was the Citrus Trail, and mostly we followed the orange and blue sections.  Relatively easy to follow and lots of signs, so it was easy not to get lost (that being said, some of the people doing the four mile actually did an eight mile by accident).

I think that my favorite part was along some of the fields with lots of grass grown in.  I had recently seen the movie theater broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera's Prince Igor, which had a scene set in poppy fields.  If I were going to set this opera in Florida, I would use these fields:

So I spent much of this part of the run with the Polovtsian Dances in my head.  Helped the time go faster, although the race didn't really feel like it was dragging much to me.  It was a nice day to be out in the woods!

It's official: I am a trail runner

I realized today that I have not posted for a while here, which is too bad because I have a lot to say about my running life.  So this entry might be kind of long.  Bear with me.  I have enclosed some photos to help.

Things that I have run since the last time I wrote here:

1) Lutz Independence Day Race: it was hot and for some unknown reason, started at 8am--which is maybe a bit too late to start running a race in July!  But I survived.  I walked in places, but survived.  What was great though was the fact that I decided to make a 'bucket list' of races that I want to do.  Races that look cool and may be elsewhere.  Races that will take some pre-planning.  But I came up with a nice assortment of things, along with the realization that right now, what I really want to be doing is running on trails.  Because almost all of the races that I selected are trail races (with a few exceptions, like the NYC Marathon, which I should be doing in either 2014 or 2015).  Even the runs that I want to do around these parts next year are primarily trail races.  So I guess that this is just where I am right now.

2) Picnic Island Run #3 (final one): Did it!  And finished the series.  So that was cool.  The race itself was less cool, particularly the part where there was a tropical-level downpour and rain was dripping into my mouth.  That part was pretty gross.

3) Watermelon Run #2 (actually #3): Did it!  And it was 100% humidity.  For real.  Not nearly as much fun as the last one.

I also found a trail race that I am excited to do.  It is the 12-mile choice for the Mystery Mountain Marathon in northern Georgia.  Why the 12 miler?  First, because I don't really have time to get in shape for a marathon right now, particularly one that looks challenging because it will be on trails.  Second, because I have realized that it is nice to do the shorter distance when you are a slow and steady runner.  It alleviates concerns about being the very final last person out there.  This may be a new policy (when possible).  Third, because this is the elevation profile:

Honest to God, this makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Notice that the thoroughly ridiculous drop happens after the 12-mile mark.

But it will still be challenging.  These are technical trails with still some elevation change.  And there could be bears.  In fact, the website warns exactly about that possibility: 'Headphones naturally impair the ability of runners to hear one another on the trail.  (They also hinder your ability to hear bears!)  Please consider leaving your headphones behind.'

So my plan to train for this is to do a challenging 1/2 marathon program, along with some tricky runs.  Such as trail runs.  I did one this morning and it was definitely a challenge--and not only because part of the run consisted of dodging from large banana spider webs (I went out with a local trail running group on Facebook if you are looking for trail runners in the Tampa area).  In fact, we didn't go on one route because there were too many spiders.  That seems like a serious statement when the trail runners are deterred because these are people who happily cavort around the woods with who knows what nature craziness in there.

The run was at Balm Boyette Park, which is mostly used for 'mountain' biking.  That term seems somewhat inappropriate for Florida:

Bright and early.  Some people even had their headlamps.

As part of my official conversion to trail-runner-dom, I did buy an official pair of trail shoes.  I figured that I will definitely need them for the Georgia race, but I was glad to have them this morning.  I meant to take a picture of them last night and share it on the blog because they are among the nicest looking ones that I have owned.  But I forgot, so allow me to share what they looked like after the trail run this morning:

Fortunately this mostly came off with a good rinse.

So that is the news.  Trail running.  It's my new thing.  Although I do also plan to do the Aching Quad in September, which is four races within around 24 hours of each other.

It has begun

Wow, I didn't even realize how negligent I've been with this blog recently.  It isn't because I haven't been running.  I've been running.  Kind of.  Not as much as I might like, but still keeping a semi-regular schedule.

So what has begun?  Summer.  *shudder*  Yes, in April.  How can I tell?  The temperature today was 90F.  Here in Tampa, in the summer, the temperature gets to 90F pretty much every day in the summer.  If it gets over 90, we consider it to be super hot (this is just the actual temperature.  The Real Feel temperatures are more in the 100-120 range).  Now the humidity today was not summer-level.  The heating was not as evil as in the summer.  But it was still pretty warm.

I really wish that my brain had conveniently forgotten that temperatures are taken in the shade and therefore it was closer to 100F in the sun.  Boo brain.  I remembered this a few steps into my run.

More and more, I am regretting my decision to sign up for a run in April (much less another run in April, then one in May).  But the upcoming one is the one that I am currently regretting the most.  It's the River N Rapids 10k, a trail run, which makes it my first trail run.  I have no idea what trail runs are like.  It's in a state park in an area that should really be swamp.  Whoo!  Lastly, it starts at 9am.  Why I thought that I would want to run something starting at 9am in April is beyond me.  Possibly this occurred back when I was sick and running a fever.

As I was feeling very hot today on my run, I had a brief moment where I realized that I did not need to do this run simply because I signed up for it.  Bold.  Crazy thoughts here.  But I don't want to quit on it.  So I will do it but will plan for walk/running.  If it isn't so bad, I can just run.  If it is, then I have a strategy.  This makes me feel better about the event.  Now I can worry about being eaten by an alligator.