I Survived...Kind Of...Sort Of...Almost.

Myself and one of my running buddies, Amy, went for a jog last night. We decided to run the Bville Dog Park Trail...which isn't what it's really called. Just minutes ago, I inadvertently found a map of the trail (which would have been soooo nice to have had before we ran) and it's real name is Slaughter Pen Hollow Multi-Use Trail System. Hmmm... Something about "Slaughter" in the title is getting to me.

So we met at 7:00, and walked the first 1/2 mile. We were under the impression that this trail makes a full loop back to the parking lot. Each 1/4 mile is marked on the trail. So then we jogged for a bit, then walked, then jogged, then walked. At one point we realized we were right behind the waste water treatment plant (yummy), but we were walking and didn't think much of it. But then the trail just kind of ended. We had come to a road, but at first couldn't figure out where we were. We were debating on whether to turn around when we saw other runners and bikers on the actual road, so we thought that the trail must pick back up just ahead of where we were, so we continued on.

We went under Tiger Blvd and figured out where we were, and a trail picked up, but by the way the trail jogged to the east, which was opposite the direction of where we wanted to go, we decided to turn around. It was somewhere around 8:00 (although we didn't have watches or phones, we knew b/c the sun was setting). So we went back the way we came. We realized that it was going to be dark soon...very few people were still on the trail. And three times in the last year there's been sightings of a black bear on this trail. So we figure, you know what? We need to get trucking if we want to make it back to the cars before dark!!

So we're jogging again...and more and more and more! At this point, we're hurting and we're out of breath, and then we're passing the sewer plant again, and we're huffing and puffing and breathing through our mouths and you can taste the waste! (Taste the waste...kind of Dr. Seuss like!!)

So it's getting darker and darker, and we realize that we're still at least a mile and a half from the cars. So we run a little faster. We're dying. We also realize that the people still on the trail are a bit "questionable", if you will, and guess what? Fear of being eaten by a bear, and/or bludgeoned to death by an escaped convict is a great motivator!!

We finally made it back...I had several missed calls from Chris, who I immediately called. He was pretty ticked off and said that he was about to call the police. I'm going to have to figure out a way to start taking my cell phone with me...guess I'll have to buy one of these pouch things that you Velcro around your arm (or something similar) to keep your phone and key. (We've been taking our car key off the ring and lacing it through our shoe lace to hang on to it!)

After all was said and done (and after we checked the trail map at the beginning of the trail that we completely missed when we started out) we ended up doing over six miles... Remember I mentioned that it seemed the trail came to an end when we hit a road? Apparently, that's where the trail ends! They just don't have it marked at all. And it was three miles to that point, and we went way past that three mile mark. In all, I think we jogged over two miles, and walked maybe another five? It's hard to know. I wish I had the little electronic pedometer, but we're too poor to buy one right now.

And to top it off...I officially have my first runner's blister! Wait...it gets better... Not one, not two, not three, but four blisters...And they've already broken and sloughed off, so I actually have three holes on the bottom of my feet (two on the right, one of the left) and a big blister on one of my toes. (Gross, I know, but I want you to know and feel the pain I am in...) Surprisingly, I'm not as sore as I was on Wednesday after our first run Tuesday night. I'm not that sore at all, which shocks me.

I had also laughed because before we started all this, Amy said "Hey, we'll be running 5K's before we know it..." and I told her not to get ahead of ourselves, that was a long way off! And then last night, we basically went the distance of TWO 5K's, in 90 minutes time! I guess her comment wasn't too far off.

I've made plans to go running again on Sunday night with one of the other girls, Cheri (Amy is in Dallas this weekend). Just for fun, I'm going to go by Rush Running in Bville tomorrow, where they will (for free) measure my stride and how I run, and tell me which shoe would be best for me (not that I can buy it...)

Maybe once I figure out how to take my cell with me, I can get a few mobile pics of our runs and post them. Until then, you'll just have to make your own image in your head...just imagine me collapsing at the finish line, and you'll be spot on!