My first trail run...

No one will ever mistake me for a trail runner, that's for sure. Today was my first foray into trail running. We are finishing up a recovery week, so the long run for today was 60-80 minutes on the Greenbelt. I was just happy that we were starting at 7am rather than 6:00! The weather was pretty good - overcast, slight drizzle at some points, not too warm. We started at the Spyglass entrance to the Greenbelt and ran about a mile up to Barton Springs then picked up TLT from there and then ran back the way we came. My legs felt relatively good, some mild tightness in my shins/calves during the first couple of miles, but then I felt strong coming back in. The section of the Greenbelt that we ran was pretty rocky (and muddy) in spots. I was amazed at some of the veteran trail runners who just went flying through, while I was taking a much more cautious approach with the rocks. I didn't mind getting dirty or even falling if it came to that, but I was concerned about twisting an ankle or something like that. Steve told us before we started to make sure we were scanning the ground about 3 feet ahead, so I did. I was constantly alert to where I was going and choosing the best path. One of the things that I like about running is that I can usually zone out and de-stress, but I wasn't able to do that on the trail since I was having to remain present and pay attention to my footing. I'm glad that I finally got to see what all the buzz is about regarding trail running, but I can't see it being a regular part of my running. Oh, and we had breakfast tacos at Taco Deli after we finished the run. Now, that was a nice perk!