Two days ago I went on a run with my dad to a trail near our house. I waited for him to come home from work and then we were off! We left at around 4:30 hoping the sun would stay up for the majority of our run. It gets dark so darn early where I live at this time of year! This can be a hassle as I am not allowed to run at night by myself which means I always have to hurry home from school if I'm planning on embarking on a long run.
I used to go on runs with my dad often and it was nice for us to bond. Sadly it is harder to find time nowadays as my track is 5-6 times a week. Because I workout 6 days a week, that only leaves one day for me to go on a run or to the gym. Keep in mind, this isn't the case every week because practice is sometimes cancelled or times are switched. However, when I do have practices 5 times a week, they are on both days of the weekend which used to be when I would go for a run with my dad. It is difficult for him to go with me on weekdays because he doesn't get home from work until 6-6:30, which is far past sundown. Don't get me wrong, night runs can be enjoyable, but the trails become dark and dangerous, and my dad prefers to not run on the roads because of his back and knee problems.
Okay, Okay, I will stop complaining and talk about the stuff you really care about: my run. The place we went to consists of two trails: an enclosed trail directly in the forest and a more open paved trail. I usually prefer the paved one because the trail is wider to run on and the scenery is nicer. Yes, the concrete isn't great for my legs, but running on it once a week (hopefully) won't kill me.
Before I joined my track club, I would run on the road 6 times a week which caused knee and ankle problems. Once I lessened my amount of concrete running and learned how to properly stretch before and after a workout, my leg problems healed.
The trail I went to was beautiful. The weather was perfect, chilly but dry; just how I like it! There were even stretches of thick fog along the trees. I could have ran without my music and been entertained by the scenery itself. It had been half a year since I ran the trail, so it was inspiring to think of all my wonderful memories created there in the past years.
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| Not the best quality picture, I know, but I didn't want to interrupt my run for too long. |
It is 1 mile from my house to the trail and vice versa. Plus, the trail is a little under 3 miles. Altogether, we ran 5 miles in 47:49 (9:32/mile). This may not be entirely accurate as I had to stop my tracker every once in a while to take pictures, making the run altogether longer, which I did not count. There were however, many hills in the beginning of trail which slowed us down. Luckily, what goes up must come down, which meant some downhill running as well. My dad and I usually try to go for at least a 10km (approx 6 miles) but I had prior engagements that night, as of which I was already late for.
I felt pretty fabulous during the run. I cannot stand hot weather, therefore the chill in the air was so refreshing. I probably could have ran another few miles no sweat. My dad and I even managed to run the last mile home at a much faster pace.
As much as I love my track club, this run reminded me of how nice it can be sometimes to put some headphones on and just run. No checking the time every minute or trying to race with others around a track. I could run however fast or slow I wanted, no pressure (my dad was just going with whatever I wanted to do, doesn't want me to tell on him to mom, haha).
Overall it was a great run to squeeze into my busy day and made feel fantastic for the rest of the night!
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| Heading home and feeling great! What a beautiful night out. |
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