My brother told me a while back that he wanted to try out my gym to see if he was interested in working out there. So today at church he asked if we could go after church. I told him sure; I would run on the dreadmill while he lifted weights or whatever it is that he wanted to do. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I did not want to run inside. It just plain sucks. So, I showed him around and did 10 minutes of ab work and thought I was going to die. I asked him if he was okay and said that I was going to run trails. By the way, how do y'all do like 45 minutes of ab work? I know that Scott does stuff like this. 10 minutes was killer for me. It sucked. I got to Monte Sano about 1PM and realized that the person in front of me was paying to get into the park. Crap! I've never paid to get in. The gate person only sits in the booth during normal hours on the weekends, so when my buddies and I meet up there at 6AM, they aren't collecting money yet. I drove all the way down the mountain to the ATM and back up to pay the lady my $3. That wasted a good 30 minutes. Argh. I was running in the heat of the day. According to my car, it was about 93* when I started at 1:30. I had my handheld water bottle with me. The plan was to run the first half of the McKay Hollow Trail Race course with a finish up Death Trail. Well, about 1.5 miles into the run, I got lost. I am pretty sure I know where I took my wrong turn, but I ended up doing part of what I had just run twice which really irritated me. I still don't see how I did that. I made it through my favorite part of the mountain, Stone Cuts. This area is absolutely beautiful. 
part of Stone Cuts At the top of Stone Cuts (yes, you climb the rocks), the course runs along a trail. It appeared to me that no one had been running up there because the brush and weeds were so thick. I should've taken a pic. They literally came up to my chest and blocked just about the whole trail. I could just make it out if I looked straight down. I was a bit worried about seeing the state bird of Alabama, the snake, in this section, so I was booking it. I wish they would maintain that area a little better. I paid my $3 to get into the park, I should at least be able to see the trails! (I know a guy that used to work there for like 3 years and he told me that all they do is play around all day, not do important things like trail maintenance, so I am a little irritated about it.) Shortly after Stone Cuts is where I got lost. I ended up coming to the area again in my exploring, but decided that I did not want to bushwhack my way through the wilderness at the top again, so I just ran by. 
just what some Alabama trails look like... I finally came to the 3-benches intersection (you guessed it, 3 benches are there) and knew where I was. Yay! I took Goat Trail through the woods for several miles until I had a nice little climb back up to civilization. That is where I encountered my first people of the day; a family of 6 out biking. They were slow, so I ran past them and around the top of the mountain to my car. I was glad to see it. This was the first time that I've ever emptied my water bottle on a run. I ran out with probably a mile to go. I was completely soaked in sweat from the darn humidity. It was pretty brutal out today. 
climb back to civilization. hills like this = walk break! I have noticed that I don't really get blisters from road running, but get them terribly from trail running. They are always in the same area, on the balls of my feet. Anyone have any insight as to why? It is irritating and painful. I guess on the downhills I am probably more on my toes, but isn't everyone? I hope y'all are all having a wonderful Father's Day! | 