Last night I did my first trail run at Shawnee Mission Park. We did the "easy" loop twice for a total of about 4.7 miles. This was a challenging proposition for me - the City Girl. I think Girl Scouts in 4th grade may have been the last time I spent quality time in a woodsy area. Seriously. Overall, it was a great experience - much more gentle on my legs than pounding asphalt, and with time I will gain the grace necessary to avoid the tree roots and rocks. As an experienced runner, I did make a newbie mistake: I forgot to apply glide to my feet so I ended up with blisters. This may be inevitable since trail running involves so much more foot movement than "regular" running. I think this may have been the longest 4.7 miles ever: 1 hour and 19 minutes...but we did stop to talk to some people we knew on the trail, so I suppose actual time may 10 minutes less.
On the way home, I noticed I did pick up 100s of tiny little hitch hiking bugs of some variety. Some are still with me this morning as I type. I am REALLY hoping they are some sort of mite, but odds are I have some variety of tick, which is causing me great mental distress as ticks are my LEAST favorite insect.
Lessons for the next trail run: 1) buy better trail shoes and 2) buy the highest level of DEET in a can possible...
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