Kimmyt
05-02-2007, 04:01 PM
Got to experience my first 'trail run' the other day.
Stuck in the Red Rock Canyon Park at 7 pm and the park closes at 8, and wanting to avoid a $250 fine for leaving late, we decided to, well, run. With full packs, weighing approximately 30lbs each. There were 6 of us. The hike in was 2 miles of faint trails through desert landscape and rough rock-strewn washes. The car was far off in the distance, and the hike in had taken us 1.5 hours, plus or minus 1/2 hour of getting lost and mistaking burro trails for the approach.
Pack on my shoulders and headlamp on my head, I ran.
And you know what? It was fun.
F.
U.
N.
Oh man, was it fun. Sun setting, just me and my trail running shoes (lovely shoes) and a heavy heavy pack, eyes on the ground in front of me, ricocheting off larger boulders and powering through sandy basins. Ignore the cactus that is attempting to latch onto your leg, just run run run and get out before that fine.
300 yards from the car and the moon is high and a look at my watch tells me it is 7:50 and I know we'll make it out without a fine, and all I can think is, but goddamn, even if we were fined, it would be worth it, running through the desert like we were being chased, just a pack of wild mountain goats (with heavy packs) and the sand and cacti looking on, and that big old smile on my face.
30 minutes it took us. 30 minutes to do a rough 2 mile hike, thats a 15-minute mile, and me at the end just smiling and feeling like I could have done twice that.
I guess I have progressed since I started running..... :D
Stuck in the Red Rock Canyon Park at 7 pm and the park closes at 8, and wanting to avoid a $250 fine for leaving late, we decided to, well, run. With full packs, weighing approximately 30lbs each. There were 6 of us. The hike in was 2 miles of faint trails through desert landscape and rough rock-strewn washes. The car was far off in the distance, and the hike in had taken us 1.5 hours, plus or minus 1/2 hour of getting lost and mistaking burro trails for the approach.
Pack on my shoulders and headlamp on my head, I ran.
And you know what? It was fun.
F.
U.
N.
Oh man, was it fun. Sun setting, just me and my trail running shoes (lovely shoes) and a heavy heavy pack, eyes on the ground in front of me, ricocheting off larger boulders and powering through sandy basins. Ignore the cactus that is attempting to latch onto your leg, just run run run and get out before that fine.
300 yards from the car and the moon is high and a look at my watch tells me it is 7:50 and I know we'll make it out without a fine, and all I can think is, but goddamn, even if we were fined, it would be worth it, running through the desert like we were being chased, just a pack of wild mountain goats (with heavy packs) and the sand and cacti looking on, and that big old smile on my face.
30 minutes it took us. 30 minutes to do a rough 2 mile hike, thats a 15-minute mile, and me at the end just smiling and feeling like I could have done twice that.
I guess I have progressed since I started running..... :D