First Trail Run of 2011

Headed out to Stony Valley Rail trail early this morning and to climb up Devil's Race Course.  There was a light rain falling when I first got there, but the temperature was in the 40s and it felt great to set out on the trail.  It has been about two months since I have gone on a trail run.  Turned off the rail trail after about a mile or so and started climbing up the mountain.  Central Pennsylvania doesn't exactly have impressive mountains, but this one is still a slog to get to the top.  There's about three and half miles of climb  to get to the top and I power hiked up most of it, running whenever the trail briefly flattened out.  Got to the top and it was nice soft double track for about two miles before I had to head back.  I felt like going on, however had to get back to the family.  Headed back and tore down hill and got to the bottom in less than half the time it took me to climb up.  I got back to the car and reluctantly returned back to civilization.  I was only out there today for two hours, but the solitude and peacefulness of being out in the woods really has put my mind in a better place.  My body on the other hand is going to be mad at me tomorrow.  I need to work on descending down hills and these first few times of getting back into it are gonna be rough on my quads.  I'm going to have to get a pair of stabilicers, or something akin to them, so that I keep up the trail running in the next few months.  I'm sure some snow will be on its way in no time.  Well, time to hobble through the house and get some cleaning done.