This afternoon I took a jaunt around the trails of Vaughan Woods in South Berwick, since I was already in the general neighborhood for work. That last wind storm and the recent heavy rains have hit that area hard! I was surprised by all the water in the trails and even more so by all the big pines that were laying across the trail at odd angles. Those pines looked like they had all been snapped off about 3 feet from the ground. Park workers have a big clean up job ahead of them.
The trails there are tricky to run anyway, with lots of short steep hills, sharp curves, and roots sticking out all over the place. This isn't a very big area, but I can get about three miles of criss-crossing trails in before having to repeat sections. Today it was like running the steeple chase. I'd jump over a downed tree, climb under the next, leap across an over flowing stream, sprint up a steep little hill, wind around a sharp curve, and go flying down the next hill, jump another fallen tree at the bottom and land in a knee deep puddle. It was huge fun!
Pace? Let's not even talk about that! I worked hard for 45 minutes with my heart rate up near my lactate threshold. During a lot of that time I wasn't making much forward progress, but it was still excellent training! The high point was when two old guys who were out walking applauded my spectacular puddle jumping abilities. Now I've got to go get some of this mud off me and put my shoes out to dry.
Sounds like a blast! I need a babysitter so I can hit the trails this weekend. Why don't young girls want to babysit these days? As a teenager I was always in for some easy babysitting money!
ReplyDeleteThose are my favorite kind of trails! It reminds me of the obstacle courses we used to have to navigate through in gym class! Glad you had so much fun.
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