Trail Running

Of the safer variety :)

I took advantage of driving Sunshine into town every day for Irish music day camp a couple weeks ago and hit the trails in town a couple times.  I did the same thing last year.

One morning I hit the nice flat bike path. Mr M was home sick so I left the sleeping River with him and enjoyed a nice long solo run. I did about 4 miles and managed a decent pace, though I could tell I have not been getting my mileage in. I do enjoy how scenic the bike path is.

A couple days later I put River in the jogger and we headed up a local mountain. Ok, it's not really a mountain if you're from the west, but they call it a mountain here. This is the same trail Sunshine and I used to visit a few years ago (here and here). It was about 2 miles up and 2 miles down, but I'd decided I wanted to get 5 miles in, so I ran a loop at the bottom several times to get my mileage up and ended up doing about 5.25 miles.

The first little bit is nice and flat, but then it's all up hill from there. I did not manage to run all the way up, but I was able to run a decent percentage. Since I was also pushing River in the jogger, I was happy with how much I ran. I was able to run all the way down and then alternated running and walking the loops at the bottom. It was a tough workout, but it felt good.

I like the boardwalk paths that make up a good portion of the trail. They make a nice change of pace from asphalt and the treadmill. 

River slept most of the way up and back, but he sure didn't look comfortable. I guess babies don't get stiff necks like grownups do :)