Adventure Trail Run for Labor Day

Labor Day was open for Nemo and I. We had no where to be and no time constraints so we got a little adventurous. I found a 12 mile backpacking loop in a book and we set out for Tar Hollow State Park in the Hocking Hills region. As we headed out of town, we got made a wrong turn on to the highway. Not a good omen for a trail run since we both tend to get lost easy.

After about an hour drive down to the state park we started to get ready for the adventure. I would suggest that the restrooms at the camp area be avoided if at all possible. They were the worst I have ever seen. That aside, I grabbed a Fuel Belt since we wouldn't have the luxury of a 7-11 on the route and put on a bunch of bug spray. We then proceeded into the unkown.

As we got to the trail head, I think we were a little shocked. The first 300 yards was straight up and not running terrain. We might be making a mistake. We walked up hill for a bit and were able to settle into a slow pace for a while. It was really exhilarating. It was peaceful and quiet and we got a little mist and rain. The ups we slow and we walked the steeper ones. Going downhill was a little nerve racking. One bad knee or ankle twist and it would make for a long day. It was very cool to have to scramble over logs, under downed trees and even through some thorny over growth. I'm not sure the best running attire for this terrain. I'd like to have had some pants to keep some of the scratches and thorns away but that might be too hot. I'll have to experiment a little more.

We found our way around for the most part, we lost the trail at a few clearings and had to walk around a bit to find it back but it was really a lot of fun. We wrapped up the run in about 2 hours which worked out to a 10 minute per mile average. We weren't really running for time so there was really no way to gauge if it was fast or not. It wasn't a hard fast effort like you can do on a paved trail but there was a lot more "full body" movements if that makes sense. My thighs, hips, and ankles were a little sore on Tuesday.

We got back to the truck and cleaned the mud, dirt, and blood off our legs and headed back to town. I think we both could have fallen asleep on the drive home and I'm used to napping within an hour of a long run. We'll definitely need to do this again with MD and GS sometime this fall.

Stats
12 mile run (2:00)
158 lbs