Cougars huh Mike, must be talking about that cougar that hangs out on WW. I think she goes by the name of Jen... And trails are much more exciting that running pavement all the time. Especially when you have to hop little mostly dried up stream beds (that are super muddy on the banks), bust through bushes and brush, slip sliding in the mud, almost not be able to stop and end up in a river, etc...Nick's trails aren't that exciting. a couple ponds, playgrounds, ultimate frisbee. it was basically a swamp so it gets flooded and muddy. oh, there is a lot of wild life there, like lots of cougars.
No running yesterday, another barefoot walk of about 4 miles chasing a little white ball all over a golf course in a light rain. It was a tough job but someone had to do it.
About 40 miles north there are some hills that consist of clay soil (very sticky when muddy) that Ive been kicking around the idea of running some of these after a rain. These are not trails but minimum maintenance roads surrounded by pasture. Some of these hills are quite long and some are steep. Is it the steeper the hill the deeper the face print if you fall? Anyway its raining now so maybe Friday (my day off) I'll give them a try. I agree that running on the same old pavement over and over does get monotonous. I enjoy running on varying surfaces and bet these trail runs you speak of would be a blast. Varying surfaces seem to be the most stimulating and make my runs that much more enjoyable.I find trail running to be much much much more enjoyable, but most of the time I have my son in a stroller with me so I have to stick to the paved paths. I'm not sure about running on wet clay soil, but here in OR we seem to have some really slippy mud. It's a bit odd as it seems to (on trails anyhow) have a hard packed soil base with a very loose layer of mud on top which creates a super slick trail, think running on ice. Luckily on our trails here we don't have a lot of rocks like other states do. I have been lucky so far when running on muddy trails and Monday was my first time falling, although I have lost my balance numerous times but was able to catch myself before actually falling. Mike on the other hand, well, he seems to like laying in the mud because I swear he falls at least once on every run where the trail is muddy.You guys (and girls) are bumming me out talking about all these nice muddy trail runs your having as there are no such trails around here for me to try out. I'm jealous! I love walking in mud but have never tried running on muddy trails. Sure sounds like fun! Ok maybe not the possible falling down and leaving face prints!
