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<\/a>It was a beautiful place to get lost. And lost I did get\u2026 albeit I was saved repeatedly by a north star runner in the first loop who I followed to get back on track.<\/p>\r\n
I didn\u2019t take a lot of photos. Some of that was a desire to just live in the moment of the run\u2026 and some of that was because I had to take note of creeping tree roots that could\u2019ve toppled me at a moment\u2019s notice\u2026 and some of that was because I was struggling here and there just to keep moving forward.<\/p>\r\n
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As would be expected, there were more runners in the first loop as it involved folks running the three different distances\u2026 as loops were completed, the numbers dwindled\u2026 and truth be told by my second loop I was already in a pace of my own, long stretches just me and the trees and the frantic search for a pink ribbon marking the turns to keep runners on track.<\/p>\r\n<\/a>
They did draw arrows in the dirt with their boot heels to mark some turns. Pro tip, something I\u2019d think the TCMA running team would know already: as runners run on the trail, and other users of the trail walk about, the dirt arrows get obscured PDQ darn quickly.
I did see a deer. It was\u2026 unimpressed with me.<\/a>
The first half of the loop had more inclines than the second half so each loop I\u2019d long to pass the halfway mark and settle into the more gentle rolling downhill mileage. But with each loop, that respite of the second half proved increasingly less respiteful and far more spiteful.
Increasingly less? That\u2019s terrible wordsmithing. I blame my dehydrated brain.
In the end, three loops took me a grueling 5:15. I\u2019m not sure I was ever destroyed. I just was mentally and physically exhausted\u2026 and unmotivated as the day wore on. I found myself channeling Danny Glover from the Lethal Weapon series: I\u2019m getting too old for this shit.<\/p>\r\n