Monday, April 21, 2008

Mud & Bug; Good & Bad

On Sunday, I drove to St. Edward State Park in Kenmore based on a recommendation from "50 Trail Runs In Washington." My initial plan was to hit the trails for about 2 hours with no real route in mind, just, sort of meander through the woods. Instead I ended up running the same loop a few times. I trails were slick and muddy, and, as a result, a lot of fun.

The first quarter of the loop I was running was mainly down hill and the sloppiest of the route, I was a little hesitant at times, trying to keep my balance while at the same time staying on the actual trail, but over all, I doubt anyone would refer to this as "technical."

The next leg was run along side Lake Washington and was quite pleasant. There were very few people on the trail, most likely due to western Washington's crazy weather as of late, and, as a result, it was no problem that I was kicking mud everywhere with each step I took. These first 2 portions of the run came very easily and were very enjoyable. Of course, after all that down hill I was bound to have to go back up.

The entire 3rd leg of the loop was uphill, and, in some spots, pretty steep to boot. Most of the uphill portion may have been runnable to some but for me it was hiking ground. I walked fast and ran the lengths I could, but, for the most part, I just sort of sludged up the hill. Never the less, I was still enjoying my self.

The remainder of the loop was fairly boring and uneventful, flat and relatively fast. I'd like to say that I went in circles like this for 2 hours but unfortunately I only ended up logging an hour on my feet.

During what turned out to be my final lap, as I was almost to the peak of the hill, a bee (I assume) hit my face like a thrown rock. Some how, as luck would have it, it managed to get it self stuck between the bill of my cap and the frame of my sun glasses. The bee buzzed a round for a brief moment attempting to get free and when I went to swat at it the little bastard stung me, this, of course, shouldn't have surprised me. The bee was free a millisecond later and I was stopped dead in my tracks trying to process what had just happened. Really, this was no big deal, I'm not allergic and the little bit of pain there was lasted only a brief time, but for some reason that was it for me. I'm not sure if it was because I stopped or that I just wasn't in the mood but the next time I saw the car in the parking lot that was that.

I still can't really pin point why I didn't continue and now I sort of feel as those I wasted an opportunity but 'oh well' I guess... there's always tomorrow...

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