Blazing Trails

Distance: 1 mile
Time: 8:47

It was tough getting runs in this last week due to a busy schedule, so when Saturday arrived I couldn't wait to get out in the bright morning and spend a little more time running. I decided to head up to Granite Hills High School to run a mile route that I had run many times last year. I hadn't run at Granite since setting a 2010 mile PR there of 7:50 on August 13th. So I drove up to the spot where I usually park, stretched a bit, then headed out. But about 20 feet into my run I noticed a couple of dogs farther along the path. At first I just thought they were being walked, but I didn't see a person anywhere. Then I saw a third dog appear, and it looked as though I had come upon a posse of stray dogs! I debated continuing on, but in the end I decided it wasn't worth it so I turned and decided to try out a new route. I crossed the road I parked on and followed a trail that led east (away from the dogs). I chose (since I didn't know where I was going) to base my run on time rather than distance. So I decided to run for 8 minutes, since that was around where my mile time was last year. After running along the trail for awhile I came to a new trail heading north-south. On a whim I made a right and began running south along a small path surrounded by desert brush and wildflowers. It was rather beautiful. Far off to the south I could see the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains, still with snow on them. The day was perfectly bright and clear, and the temperature was just right. I was reveling in the atmosphere! I finally came to a large dirt road and took it west, back towards the high school. I then headed south on another dirt road that led to a large property with horses roaming the lot. From here I turned around and headed straight up the same road where I had parked my car. This is when I finally began to come apart. I had been running pretty strong up till then (albeit distracted by the scenery), but now that I could see the finish line I was hitting the wall. The wind had picked up too, so it made it tougher running against it. I finally reached my car and stopped the watch at 8:47. I noticed that those 3 stray dogs had wandered over near where I parked, but were just curiously staring at me from some shade near a fence. They seemed friendly enough, but rather than go find out I snapped a picture instead.

I went home and mapped out the run on mapmyrun.com to see what kind of distance I had covered. To my surprise it was exactly 1 mile! So I ran what I wanted to run to begin with! I was pleased with my time, too. It was definitely slower than the 7:50 I had run in August, but it was a lot better than the 9:36 I ran when I first started timing my mile on May 24th, 2010. From here I should be able to get my times down again in a small amount of time. One thing's for sure, I can notice my decreased weight when running. I don't feel as sluggish or sloppy when I run. I think last year my weight was really preventing me from getting better times.

Above are some pictures from my run. The top photo is the stray dogs lounging in the shade. And the next one is the quaint trail I ran just east of the high school.