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An Adventure of a Lifetime

December 28, 2018 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
It was a grey and stormy morning, the rain falling fast, and I stepped outside for a moment to survey the neighborhood. As I was turning to go back to the warmth of my bed, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a strange young lad running up my block. He looked windblown—at the mercy of the elements—but but he motioned me towards him. His aura was familiar, perhaps from another life, but I was unable to place him, yet he awakened deep within my shins an urge to follow. I suddenly found myself in full running gear and off we set at a trot towards the wilds of the Melvin Hazen trail. The mud oozed beneath our feet, carrying us down the trail, but the adventure had only just begun. We came to a fork in the path and chose the left branch only to dead end into a lake. Having no boat with us, we were forced to retrace our steps to take the other branch which brought us out to a road. The cars rushed past us a speed outside of comprehension, but we found a break in the traffic and charged across, plunging back into the wild woods on the other side. This trail proved more difficult than the previous one, as it wiggled back and forth across a raging river. At the first few crossings, we managed to get across on rocks, dampening only the soles of our shoes, but at each one, the rushing water seemed deeper and angrier and soon the path dead ended at a point with no rocks in sight. We looked at each other, unsure of the next step. We could build a raft and sail downstream, we could scramble up the very steep banks, not knowing how far we'd have to go before returning to the path, or we could wade across. After a failed attempt at raft building, we plunged into the cold water, scrambling around to find good footing, and made it to the other bank, panting but proud to have surmounted yet another obstacle. And yet, it was far from the last one of the day. The path crossed the creek half a dozen more times and we traversed it over and over, mostly wading but at one point when the rapids were too strong, crawling and scooting on a muddy fallen tree (there's video evidence if you ask me). Finally, when we could take no more, we clambered up a hill, sliding in the mud and pushing thorns our of the way, and finally, exhausted, popped out of the woods onto a road. Oh blessed pavement! The rain suddenly stopped, the world seemed to relax around us as if we'd proved ourselves worthy against the earthly challenges, and we ran home feeling extremely proud of our accomplishment.

Note for Anthony: I'm very sorry that this may or may not have been double the time I was supposed to do, but the strange young lad claimed that since most of it was on dirt, my shins would be fine, and they actually feel okay and they also got multiple ice baths from the water and I will take tomorrow off. :)

Also, welcome to running-log Lauren!!!