When you're all in it together...

I knew I was going to do the next organised trail run no matter what obstacle may have been put before me. I just loved the last one!

And I'd been inspired by the 6/12/24 hour runners the day before...
They'd been running for most of Saturday and some where continuing on into the night and following morning.
How could I not do a little 21kms trail run?

So I had all my clothes ready. Got dressed and when I opened the back door to get my shoes, realised it was raining heavily.
I must admit, I did think about cancelling for half a second there... but I was dressed and my mind was set on it so off I went.

I was the second one there. Always anxious to start! With the amount of rain that was falling, I wasn't sure too many more would show up but I was wrong...
Slowly they started coming from all over the city...
Think we were about 12 or so... only three women.
We all laughed about how mad we were but there was never a question that we weren't going to do it.

So with our sanity clearly not functioning, we set off! I kept up with the front group for about 2-3kms but at about that time I, along with two other guys started falling short of the front pack.. As I had no clue of the trail we were going to do, I pushed myself to keep up.  I may have pleaded "don't leave me" but maybe not.. I'm sure I didn't actually say it out loud!

I may have even made a girlie "ew" sound or two as my shoes squelched into slippery, sloshy mud. I was wet through to my socks within the first kms... we were completely drenched!
And yet, with all of that, it was still fun!
And I think it was because we were all in it together!

If you look at the garmin map you'll notice that the first part was quite uphill! And we were just getting up to a high point when I looked to the right of me and saw a big kangaroo!!! We stopped to admire it for a while (just me and the two other guys as we were completely alone at that point) then were off again...

About midway  through our run we caught up with front pack runners... well actually, they caught up with us as they'd taken a wrong turn and had to double back. They were with us for a few minutes then quickly took off again...
We didn't see them until the end.

Like most runs, I really started to enjoy it from the midway point. At that time I could just relax and enjoy my surroundings even though it was still raining heavily.

We had to cross the freeway over the bridge a few times and I heard a beep or two as we were going over. I'm sure the beep was saying "What the hell are you guys doing????"
Only another trail runner would understand...

And yet what a great feeling when we finished!! We'd done it and it really HAD been fun!!!

And I can't wait for the next rail run!

Trail Running...

Ok it's no secret that I get obsessed... and my latest obsession seems to be trail running.

I just can't get enough of it!

This morning I did a trail run with a few other trail running nuts.. stole this photo that was taken of the group. Can you see my bushy pony tail?




I met most of these guys for the first time this morning. We were a little quiet, not knowing each other, but that soon changed by the time we'd finished.
I find the group so encouraging and friendly. And the difference with going with the group is that I won't stop if I get tired.. can't let anyone see me stop! So it pushes me further and I really felt like I pushed myself up those hills this morning and loved it! Can't wait to do it again! So nice to have sore quads!

Another photo I stole from another runner...I was still near the front here... Actually I did ok and would have finished sooner if the group I was running with didn't take a slightly longer scenic route. We weren't quite sure where to go but we did know the destination so we just followed the signs and knew we'd eventually get there...

So that's two trail runs in two days... how will my treadmill ever compete with that??
Not a chance!

Today's run courtesy of Garmin