Back to the Trails!
I ran the same trail, the orange blaze bridle trail, at Salt Fork this week. I ran it on Monday and then today on Thursday. I am happy to say I felt a bit more energetic than Monday.
Monday I left the house, tired. I really wanted to go back to bed but the dry wall guys were arriving. My stomach was upset. I even took a Tums. I ate some toast, then left to go run the Bigfoot Loop at Salt Fork.
Which is not what I ended up doing. I decided to see how the bridle trail off Hosak's Cave was. I had not run on this trail in two years. The last time I was on it, it was horribly overgrown and covered in downed trees and briers.
I was exhausted. I turned my phone alarm on for one hour, reclined the seat in my car, and napped for 45 minutes.
I would take that as a sign I was not recovered from The Ring..but I have a 100 mile race in seven weeks. I need to get back out on the trails again.
What a difference a year or so makes. The above picture was the "old" trail. That is a pretty good representation of what I bushwhacked through on my last visit. They've moved this section of trail closer to the lake. It's pretty overgrown, down on the lake with tall weeds, but that is all.
Flash forward a few days later. I have actually gotten a decent night's sleep, and I am out on the same trail again. I'm feeling much better about the Uwharrie 100. I'm trying to get out now, on trails, as much as possible, as my race will be on trails.
I am on the flat part of this trail, down by the shoreline, where I somehow spot a trail off to my left..and see the foundation of an old house.
How have I missed this before? I've run this loop maybe a dozen times before. Probably, due to it being flat, I've just been "running" down through here and never seen this before. Will there be daffodils in the springtime? I've already bookmarked this now in my brain to come visit and see what spring flowers might be emerging..
I take pics on my run. As I am taking pics of tree graffiti, i spot this little creature. How odd! It looks like a tennis shoe, like an artist rendition of "Where the Wild Things Are" of a Hoka Shoe. The FB friends identify it for me.
Saddleback caterpillar-The caterpillar is primarily green with brown at either end and a prominent white-ringed brown dot in the center which resembles a saddle. It has a pair of fleshy horns at either end. These and most of the rest of the body bear urticating hairs that secrete an irritating venom. Contact with the hairs causes a painful, swollen rash and sometimes nausea in humans.(1) The hairs should be removed from the skin immediately to prevent more venom spread.
Nope! I had no interest in touching the little critter to begin with!
Nope! I had no interest in touching the little critter to begin with!
The second running of the orange loop was much better. Next week, I may see about doing two loops on a run.
Next training run is off to Ohiopyle, on the Laurel Hills Hiking Trail~
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