I ran around in circle through Schmitz Park last night (you can get an idea of the route from the image below, the thick white line is the trail I looped around on in a clock wise direction).

...it's difficult to keep track of mileage without a Garmin or something along those lines so I've just been running based on time as of late. Last night I was running for an hour and a half with at least an hour and fifteen minutes of that being on this one loop, sounds boring huh? Actually it wasn't/isn't at all, being surrounded by nature like that is wonderful, and although the scenery doesn't really change from lap to lap, it remains beautiful. Last night I was particularly lucky to have a chance encounter with a barred owl. As I ran up hill, south bound (about 2 o'clock-ish if the trail were a clock) I noticed something white on the trail ahead, as I approached it's head turned and looked at me, then it quickly took flight to a lower branch on a near by tree. It had started to get sort of dark at this point (I was on my second to last loop, it it was probably about 6:15pm or so) so I didn't realize it was an owl until it flew to the tree but once it landed I had a perfect opportunity to get a good look, and the owl just sat there looking back at me... it was pretty cool...


Besides enjoying the scenery, there is a reason I'm dedicating to running the trail as opposed to just getting in my miles on the road, if fact there's numerous reasons. First and fore most, it's more enjoyable, but beyond that, Schmitz Park has lots of ups and downs through out the park, it helps me get used to slicker (muddy) trails, and is easier on my legs to boot! I know the Mt. Si course won't be very similar (and god knows the Green Lake course won't be either) but this seems like a good way to gain endurance and still really enjoy my runs... oh yeah, there's a small set of stairs too, good for both Big Climb practice and Mt. Si practice... I think I might be just rambling now...