Monday, February 20, 2012

Big Woods - Winter Edition (no snow)

This weekend I decided to drive to one of the woods I run in on campus.  I usually run there from home then run back, but thought running the entire time in the woods would be that much better (instead of 3.5 miles on the road).  I was not disappointed and may make a habit out of this approach.

I don't know why these woods have the nick name "big woods", to me they are the "old woods" since this is where I use to mountain off-road bike 15 years ago before they were closed by the university.  These woods have lots of fond biking memories, now I'm filing away fond running memories.

Saturday I made it to the woods for a run.  I planned on running an hour and a half, but I just didn't want it to end.  I never saw one other person out there.  Just me and my tunes.  It was so peaceful and I never once got nervous about mountain lions :-).  Not sure why I start thinking I'm being watched when running alone through woods, but it didn't happen this time (maybe no one was watching me, but they really are at other times :-)).

Anyway here are some pics.

Pretty barren in February

nice single track

went over the handle bars coming down this
10+ years ago I was biking by myself and coming down this I ended up looking at the sky without knowing exactly what happened.  No phone, by myself, I was stunned.  I really don't know how long I laid there.  Could have been a second, could have been 10 minutes.  Felt my collar bones and helmet, no trouble so I kept going.  That was the last time I rode down that though :-).


interesting obstacles

can't remember what I saw here

You have to pay attention in some places, specially on a bike

another drop off, it seems tighter in person


sorry, no stupid crooked grin pictures of me today :-)

more obstacles 

The woods change so much from season to season, I'm hoping to take a few pics each season and blog them. I've had this thought before, but then again, I wasn't a blogger before.  We'll see.......

8 comments:

Ali Mc said...

oh man, I love all your runs. I miss just going for drives - don;'t do them much as a mom. I can't wait till the spring to run trails like these :)

I love the season trail pic idea :D

Raina said...

Wonderful photos! It really is fun to see where other people train. We are in the middle of nowhere, but most of the land is locked up either as private, or is logging roads with huge uphill/downhill. No trails. And cougars are a big concern around here too! I get that feeling sometimes too- but not usually on my road routes.
Looking forward to seeing the spring photos :)

XLMIC said...

Your captions totally cracked me up. And I really missed the mandatory self-portrait. Why not this time?

Unknown said...

I would love to run in those woods. I have nice ocean views here, but I love the wooded areas in the mainland.

Big Daddy Diesel said...

Nice, I like that trail

Kate Geisen said...

I'm jealous. Your weekend run was MUCH more scenic than mine! I LOVE our woods. :)

Teamarcia said...

What a cool adventure! Scary about how you went down that hill and don't remember what happened. Maybe it's better that way.
Loved your comment about workout gear stank. I think I'm married to your bro. I don't think he'd ever put his stuff in the laundry if I didn't complain about the stench.

Jill said...

That looks so pretty; reminds me a lot of the trails I ran as a kid in Northern Iowa! Reminds me of the trail in Central Iowa I'll be running in a few weeks...a race which I'm so ill-prepared for. Thanks for the reminder!! ;) I bet it's really nice there in the summer; a nice break from the heat and humidity!

btw, saw it was your birthday Friday - Happy Belated Birthday, hope it was fantastic. Hey, maybe you got out for a nice trail run on your special day! :)