Cool Running

I had the best run yesterday. It started out near Cloudcroft, our local mountain town. I had looked up the weather and found the first report to be unbelievable, so I checked two more sites and got a twenty degree discrepancy. Turns out it was the coldest of the three -- 42F! But it was sunny and comfortable.

The first trailhead at which I stopped marked the entrance to the Vista Trail, which turned out to be full of nice vistas, but only about a third of a mile long. I got right back in the car and headed just a little further down the road to the Rim Trail. I'd heard of the Rim Trail, but hadn't actually set foot on it before. It started out rocky and rooty, but only for a few short sections. Soon it turned into a nice 18-inch-wide ledge, covered in pine straw and hard packed dirt, that rose steeply to my left up the mountain. To the right, it dropped steeply off into the... well I couldn't see the bottom. At least there were a few trees there to break any potential falls before sliding into the deep abyss. Not sure if I'll bring my shaky mountain bike skills out here any time soon. It was a well trodden trail, but some parts were full enough of roots and rocks that I had a perfect excuse to walk and catch my breath. 

Just under 2 miles in, I hit a road crossing. Deciding that I liked the looks of this road, I turned on it instead of continuing on the trail. Now THIS was a nice running road. It was hard packed, smooth dirt with just a bit of gravel. At this point I was feeling the searing in my lungs, and even though the hills weren't bad, I walked some of them. Jeff Galloway said to do it!

Soon I hit a highway and realized that this was in fact the same highway I had parked on. Just not here. But it couldn't be far away. I kept running until the Garmin said 4 miles, since I'd planned an 8 miler. I turned around and must've dazed off for a few miles. Next time I looked down the mileage said 6.4. Oops, wasn't I supposed to get back on the T105 trail at 6? Hmmmm, this looked familiar, but how unfamiliar can a dirt road with lots of evergreen trees look when that's what I've been running on for 4 miles? I kept going. At 7.5 I KNEW I had gone too far. Trying not to panic again (and keeping thoughts of bears this time out of mind), I tried to check my google map on the phone. No service, of course. How is it that I can be up here, higher than anything within like 100 miles, and still not get service?? I knew worst case scenario, I could run a few miles back to the highway and try to figure out which way to run back to my car. It was right at mile marker 5, and I knew I'd parked between, like, 3 and 7. Somewhere.

I turned around and was admittedly unsurprised when the trail marker was very easy to spot going the other direction. Not sure how it's so easy for my brain to faze out for over 2 miles. Can't it do this in my next race? Please?

I ended up with over 10 miles of trail running (read: slow running, Galloway style), plus I learned a new spot to get some off roading in. Very excited to take husband with me next time, and his sense of direction may be what I need to find my car more easily. That or I'm getting the get-me-back-to-my-car-I've-lost-in-the-parking-lot app on my phone.