Happy Trails To You....

Nomi says....



So....i decided to hit the trails. There's a park about 40 minutes away from where i live with nice trails. It's a mountain bike park with about 70km of trails with names like 2K,Mission, Twin Peaks, Rock Garden, Clenched Sphincter, Screaming Banshee, Carnival, Bar-A-Kuda. I guess the name of the trail sort of reflects it's difficulty and the mountain biker's reaction to it...

Well, running trails is a totally different ballgame from the flat roads. It's hot in the open areas with no tree cover, humid, steep, has loads of roots, and rocks and for a relatively clumsy person like me...an accident waiting to happen.
I started off in a steep trail fondly called Carnival that was painstakingly paved by an avid mountain biker with large stones and i felt like keeling over just after 10 minutes. Firstly i had to concentrate...had to look down to see where to put my feet and make sure that i didn't fall. Then i had to look up to see where i was going..there was vegetation on both sides of the trail..I didn't want a branch to poke my eye or get swatted in the face by one. Then i had to look down again..to make sure that i was not killing some poor wildlife whose path i was straying into.And then look up to make sure i wasn't in the line of a speeding mountain bike coming in the opposite direction....Also, i couldn't listen to music, as i actually needed to hear the surrounding sounds , for example of a rampaging wild boar bent on goring me or a mountain biker yelling at me to get out of the way or the squish of something alive that i had trod on.....well, you get the picture.The good thing was that it was not raining...or it would have been a mud fest.
After Carnival, i started the painful and tiring climb up Twin Peaks...it was about 1.5 kms one way, but felt like 5kms and with weights strapped at the ankles. I was huffing and puffing and felt to out of shape..I finally reached the top without bursting a vessel and turned and came back down the same way...the next trail was 2K, but i kind of strayed into The Mission...I only ran about 6-7kms totally...but it took me at least an hour. The GPS watch wouldn't work under all the tree cover, so i had no idea about pace and distance. And, it's good to run these trails with company. Running alone is a No No.., you've no idea what 4 legged or 2 legged beasts that you might encounter and you need to go with someone who knows the trails well. To me, one trail pretty much looks like the other......And you need loads of water, and repellent and enthusiasm and sun block:)
But it was good fun. It's a different experience from the road, a whole lot more tiring and one needs to concentrate or risk injuries...ie twisted ankles..scratches...animal bites:)

I did meet a golden haired male who ran with me for the best part of Twin Peaks trail...he was good company , strong, uncomplaining, had better stamina than me...and his picture is below...

Running buddy

Can't wait to rope Joy and Lulu into running these trails with me....

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