After a
loooooong week of super killer workouts, Kent decided he wanted to do a trail run for our "short run" weekend. (Remember,
our training plan for winter calls for a super long run every other week vs the typical every weekend plan.) I'm not much of a trail running fan.
Last summer, I rolled my ankle on the Tar Bell Trail, and it took months to heal. I'm also not a fan of snakes, which are frequently seen on trails. YES, even this time of year. Nobody else seems to ever see them. I think I'm a reptile magnet of some sort. *Ick*
We decided Wildwood is much too popular. Heritage is too boring. Whipple Creek is too short. We have made it our mission to find less frequented locations (for our trail runs) from here on out.
Moulton Falls was our pick of the day. Neither of us had ever been there, and it ended up being a total picture-fest on the way back
down the hill. [Perfect for me because my right hip was SCREAMING to stop, at that point. I took every chance I got to stop and walk & stretch.]
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| Entering the trail. |
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| I would loooove to own that house in the background! Can you imagine their view? |
I was on fire headed up the hill!
I'm not sure how in the hell I did it, but I pulled off my fastest two mile stretch EVER! It's a gradual climb up to the falls. We started off on a paved trail, but it quickly turns to packed gravel. Totally runnable, but you really need trail shoes to pull off a solid run here. I could feel gravel hitting the backs of my calves the entire run, and brought home at least a pound of the stuff in my shoes. Lucky for me, I wore my
Brooks Cascadia 7s! They were perfect for this adventure. How I was running with a pace in the 8s, uphill, on a gravel trail is beyond me, but here's what I did:
Mile 1 8:45
Mile 2 8:30
The first two miles were a blur. I was in the zone. Nothing was hurting. My legs felt as though they could run that pace forever.
It felt as though God had lifted me up by the bra straps & carried me, while my legs went through the motion of running. I know that sounds nuts, but that's what it felt like for someone who never runs that fast. Wow!
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| Showing off my "Bad Ass" socks! |
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I told him to pose like he was showering in the water fall.
See if he ever listens to me again. :) |
Once the first two miles are over, you hit the falls. That area isn't very runner friendly. There's a lot of hiking involved. Tree roots and rocks galore. So we hit the porta potty, hiked around, took a bazillion pictures of the scenery. It was gorgeous.
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| Wondering how to get across....hmmmm |
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| The sun started to shine! |
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| This part looked like it would be fun to float through on a tube! |
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| Look what I found AFTER taking my pants down in the porta potty! |
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| EEEEK! |
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| This part would NOT be fun to go through on an inner tube. lol |
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We found the bridge, but it was pivoted AWAY from our side of the river.
Neither of us had ever seen a bridge that could pivot before. (No crossing for us!)
We assume it's to allow large logs/trees to flow through without damaging the bridge. |
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The stairs getting down to the bridge were kind of scary.
You can't tell by this picture, but each step is slippery with thin layer of moss & also very steep. |
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| We were *just* below the snowline. We could see it, though! |
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| I'm so glad this type of terrain was short lived! |
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| Every single rock was slippery with moss. So much for dry shoes. |
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I wish I could have backed up for a better shot of this rock wall.
The trail was too narrow to do so. |
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| We found a railroad track out in the middle of nowhere. |
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| More water flowing down a rock feature. |
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| Of course...it started to rain hard. What would a run in Washington be without rain? |
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| Still raining... |
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| STILL raining.... |
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| Yep, *still* raining... |
During that time spent enjoying the scenery, my hip stiffened. Sigh. That, on top of the last half of the run being downhill, the last half of this run wasn't nearly as fun (or fast) as the first half.
Mile 4 10:01
Mile 5 10:47
Mile 6 (last half mile / hip killing me) 10:49
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| The rain stopped just in time to enjoy the last half of our run. |
Lesson learned. The next time we do this trail run, I am NOT stopping to enjoy the view. Well, not for as long, anyway.
Next time, I'm out to prove to myself that I can carry out that 8 minute pace from start to finish! :)
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What a pretty run!
ReplyDeleteTotally pretty!
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