The Ups and Downs of Trail Running

Last night my husband and I decided to run together at Furman. He had never been on the trail and I wanted to do it again. But since the trail seems shorter than our usual run, we decided to start on the main boulevard on campus. It is a beautiful split road lined with 60 year old oaks and a running/biking path on the road. It just makes you feel smart to be running on such an elite college campus. I think it is great that Furman is so open to the community.Our family has always taken advantage of the path around the lake and the trails here.
My husband has had time off of running because of a major work schedule change, so this was his get back into the groove run. We decided to run to the trail head as a warm-up run. It took us about 15 minutes to get there and we chatted and enjoyed the beautiful evening together. At the trail head we did some stretching. Then we made a run for it.
Having been on this trail a few times (walking and running) I was now more familiar with the ups and downs of it. I wanted to try to sort of pace myself. That is very hard to do on a trail. Downhills speed you up and uphills slow you down. Unlike a road, with long stretches of up and down hills, this trail has variances close together. Up, down, maneuver through a few short curves, then up and down again...
We stayed pretty steady, inspite of these ups and downs. But, once again, I got too excited at the outset and over-ran. I knew I was taking it too fast, but it feels so good to bound through the woods a breakneck speed. Finally, I told my husband I was going to have to slow it down or I would not make it backl alive, much less running. So we jogged a little more. When I felt recovered, we tried another higher pace run and then slowed it down again. On the last small hill up, I knew I was going to have to walk. So we walked a few hundred feet to the bathrooms. I splashed some water on my face and cooled off a bit. I was burning hot! I was wearing a new shirt that is not performance material. It was marketed as a fitness shirt at Wali-World and wasn't cotton, so I got it. But it is polyester and I felt like it held in every bit of heat. I like my Run In shirt!
From there we got back on the road and did a cool down run back to the car.
Dan was glad he finally got back on the road and felt all the better for it.
Over all it was a great run.
Lessons Learned:
Don't start my runs so fast, slow it down!!
Don't wear that shirt again. Make sure it is performance fabric.
Don't quit Sometimes you get out of the groove, just get back in it.