Leaves, rain and mud...

It was dark this morning for an uncharacteristically long time.

I finally decided it was light enough to drag myself from bed around 8 a.m. when the sun finally crested the backyard treeline. It was warm in my room, though i hadn't opened my window throughout the night which may have accounted for some of the heat.

Donning leggings, a base layer shirt and my trail running shoes, I headed out the door to the local conservation area for a mid-morning run. I knew it would be damp, as the roads were dark with freshly fallen rain. But I persisted anyway.

I chose a difficult path, the same my cousin and I went last time, except this time I took the route backwards. Usually I start with the Junior Loop to warm up and then continue along, but today I took the Esker Trail right off the bat. The hill on this side is different than the one my cousin and I climbed, it's steeper, longer and has less plateaus to rest your calves that will undoubtedly be screaming.

I made it to the top, and stood for a moment looking over what I had achieved. Then continuing along.

Two men passed me going in the opposite direction, running at a faster pace than I could ever hope to achieve. I continued along, reaching a post with a map on it. I contemplated where i wanted to go, simply finish the loop, or add the Junior Loop onto the end. While staring at the map, the men passed again, this time going the other way. I can't understand how they did it, I wasn't running that slowly and it would take longer than five minutes to reach the end of the Esker Trail and come all the way back. I conclude that they turned around at the halfway point.

The rest was downhill, and this is where the mud began. The leaves covered most of it, making it hard enough to run along. But when the leaves were sparse, the mud splashed behind me, sucked my shoes in and soaked my socks. It was terrible. It wouldn't be so bad if the mud were simply wet dirt, but this was thick mud. It swallowed my entire shoe, covering my ankle in its thick sludge.

I found myself hopping from dry space to dry space, hoping to find someway to be able to run efficiently in this condition.

At least I wore my long leggings, instead of my running shorts. Kept my legs dry.

I finished the run feeling on top of the world, and wanted t continue along. Unfortunately I ran for longer than I had originally allotted for, and was out of time.

I walked back to my car, mud drenched and soaked from the light rain falling.