OK, so, after I visited with my younglings, I went for a run.
I went out to Walnut Creek park to run the trail that I laid out a couple of weeks ago. I had to get 7 miles in, so I figured I could go about half way, then turn around and come back. I estimated that I should run for abour an hour and a half or so in order to be sure that I got in the 7 mile requirement.
It started off good enough, and I was able to follow the trail all the way up to Metric, which is where I turned around. I was at 37 minutes at this point, so I figured I’d have some make up running to do at the end. There was a part of the trail in which we had to cross over the creek, but because of recent rain, the creek was higher than it was the other day, so I decided that on the way back, I’d find the higher crossing that the bikers must take.
Easier said than done, I got totally lost on my way back to my car. I ran up a bunch of hills, through the woods, over the creek, twice, and there were no signs of the parking lot.
Nothing looked familiar either.
At the crest of a hill, I spotted some power lines that run by the parking lot, so I headed towards them, or so I thought. I had lots of water in the camel back, so I wasn’t too worried, plus I knew I was in the city, so I wasn’t really all that lost.
Anyway, after coming up to the creek for a 3rd time, I finally saw another person and I asked them if they knew which way to the parking lot. They pointed me in the general direction, and off I went. I ran up some more hills, down some more hills, along the creek, along the power lines that I was using as a reference, and then I ran into another person.
I asked them if the parking lot was in the general direction I was heading in, and with a chuckle, they said “yes”. I ran a bit more, and sure enough, there’s the parking lot.
I breathed a sigh of relief, and drank some more water.
I walked up this last little hill to the lot and saw my car. I looked at my stop watch and it was at 1 hour 27 minutes. I figured that was close enough, so I stopped it. With the hills and all that, I’m pretty sure I went 7 miles.
Anyway, running on trails is different than running on pavement with the unevenness of the terrain and the elevation changes it’s more challenging on trail.
I went home and fell asleep. Actually, I had a very small bowl of salad, hung out with the roommates for a bit, then went to sleep. I think it was 8 o’clock or something like that. I woke up this morning at 6 feeling great. I think I just needed some sleep cuz I feel a lot better today.
Run Stats:
Terrain: uneven trail
Location: Walnut Creek Park
Time: 1 hour 27 minutes and some change
Distance: approx. 7 miles
Pace: Unknown
Noteworthy: I got lost on trail, big time. I broke down and asked for directions and got pointed in the right direction.
people have done it. Walnut Creek is one of those parks that make running worth while. Been lost there once or twice myself
I run in Walnut Creek at least twice a week, and I always get lost there! It’s maddening, because you kinda know where you are, but can’t figure out how the hell to get to where you wanna go. We need to get you on the Barton Creek Greenbelt!
I can only imagine the kinds of lost I can down there.