Epic Trail Adventure of Summer 2015

I have fallen in love with trail running this past year.  I have been having a blast, challenging myself and meeting new running friends. I am so thankful to live in an area of the country were there are beautiful places to run so close to my home. I finished a summer trail series a few days after running 13 miles in the Barrel to Keg Relay. I admit I should have taken the night off from running but the lure of drinking beer and hanging out with my running club was the main reason for lacing up my shoes and hitting the trail that night. It was the final run of the series and a celebration at a local pub was planned afterwards.

I usually run with my phone. That night my plans were to stick close to my friend Miranda and her husband as she had her phone and we usually run the same pace. I had a full bottle of Nuun, my aching toes wrapped and a goal of enjoying a cold beer afterwards. Off I embarked on what was suppose to be a five mile trail run in an unfamiliar area.

The first three miles were hell. I was seriously doubting my reasoning of attempting to run.  Even more so when a bunch of guys came effortlessly sprinting by me as I was seriously considering turning around. My feet, at this time wrapped up in bandaids and cotton balls were screaming in pain and my legs heavy and tired. My friend Miranda got ahead of me as the trail become narrow. I could no longer see her bright colored shirt. No big deal as that is normal when running trails. The course was supposed to be marked by tiny little pink ribbons. Soon I was running alone. I saw a bunch of pink ribbons in the trees to my left.  Was this meant for us to continue straight or turn left? This where the epic adventure began.

Soon I heard footsteps behind me and saw another runner. It was a visiting runner named, Cheryl from Spokane who decided to run with our group that evening along with her son.  In retrospect we should have continued straight but we turned left. This is where a large arrow in flour would have been extremely helpful. To make a long story short we got lost. Not a little lost but completely lost. What should have been an hour trail race turned into almost two and a half hours. Thankfully it was not too hot. It wasn't until we came to a gate about mile 8 that I got a little concerned. Now the mosquitos where coming out. My choice of clothing was all wrong. Shorts and a tank top were not the best selection.  I made mental note, the next time I trail race I will never again forget my phone, keep bug spray in my car and ditch running shorts and always opt for running tights. There was no use to waste our energy on freaking out so we kept on running and talking.

When running for two hours, lost in the woods one does a lot of thinking and talking. I could not have picked a more perfect person to get lost in the woods with. Cheryl runs half marathon trail races! She told me of some fun races up where she lives. We got to know one another pretty well over the course of our epic trail adventure. After about mile five, I found my groove. The pain in my toes disappeared and my legs no longer felt like jello. I got into a zone where we mostly ran and walked up the steep inclines. In the words of Meredith Atwood, Swim, Bike Mom "Just keep moving forward" became my mantra.  I knew that going past the gate wasn't a good idea. We turned around and went back the way we came. I knew we should go back to the main trail that we turned onto. I knew that eventually someone who come looking for us. At this point I was embarrassed. Not scared. The thought of wild animals had not occurred to me. I was worried about the sun setting and being cold. It was then I realized I was the star in my own reality show. Thankfully no cameras were following us. My girls love watching survival shows like Dual Survival. I was figuring out in my mind how I make a fire with my shoe laces, hand held water bottle and my hair tie. Instead of Cody and Dave it was Mary and Cheryl in the woods of Lincoln County.

We started looking at every tree trying to locate pink ribbons but other colored ribbons were also in the forest in the form of marking trees. Those were orange. But when the sun is setting orange begins to look a lot like pink. Finally we found where we needed to turn to get back to where we came. We knew we were on the correct trail. That is when I became irritated and mad which helped me to focus on running and blocking out the pain that was beginning to creep into my toes and quads. Again, a flour arrow on the trail would have been super helpful. Now the sun was setting which made the woods that much darker and navigating the treacherous trail in limited light even more dangerous. "High knees" we would yell to each other. We made it this far we can't fall now we commented to each other. Finally, two and half hours and 11 miles later we arrived where we started to the running group who was so thankful and relieved to see Cheryl and I.  Search and rescue had been called and they were on their way from Salem, over a two hour drive. I shutter to think how awful that would have been if we were hurt and lost, waiting in the dark cold and scared. My friend Miranda and her husband had started looking for Cheryl and I.  Miranda knew something was up when I didn't show up shortly after she had finished the run.

The end of series race celebration still happened. I had never been so happy to guzzle ice cold water, drink a beer and sit down. I was afraid to take my shoes off and see the additional damage I had done to my poor feet once I arrived home. Surprisingly, I felt strong. If needed I could have continued to run. The positive of this harrowing experience was I made a new running friend and mentally know that I am more than capable of running a half marathon. I have to say also out of all the trail runs I've done so far my epic adventure run was the most beautiful. Dense forest, thick with ferns and pine trees and beautiful scenery helped to make it even more memorable. Adding this to the list of adventures I've had this fabulous year, year thirty-nine. I told you all, it was going to be fabulous! It hasn't disappointed me yet!