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!