A Day off at The Narrows

     I survived my first week of intern year/residency AND my first HO shift! One day of "rest" and then back at it again tomorrow morning. Thankfully, our program director for anesthesiology approved dropping one didactic session per week (meaning we get to sleep in an extra hour), so we all chose Monday. Because nobody likes Mondays and showing up at 6:30am instead of 5:30am makes Monday *that much more* bearable.
     I haven't run AT ALL since my long run last Saturday. I had planned to do 7-10 miles on Wednesday, but dropped it and rested since I felt like crap. I was scheduled for 8-9 miles today and figured I'd head out whenever I got up.....I needed one day of waking without an alarm. After coffee (of course), I headed out from home to The Narrows Reserve, literally just outside our neighborhood. I talked with one of the attending OB/Gyn's who was on L&D Thursday/Friday who also runs. She gave me several good areas to check out for trails, and lo and behold.....one was RIGHT NEXT to our house! I was on the trails less than a mile from the house, which is pretty awesome! I've been missing trail running since we left Philly, having done all my running on the paved trails here. The Narrows did not disappoint! It is BEAUTIFUL and actually slightly more challenging terrain than my favorite in Philly. It's not nearly as extensive, so I'd be hard pressed to do more than ~10-12 miles back there without being painfully redundant, but it's great for short-moderate trail runs.

This particular stretch reminded me of Flattop back "home" in Alaska. Neverending stairs! 

 

     I shortened my run a bit today (by 1-2 miles, I only did 7 total) mainly because it was technically more challenging and my legs were burning from all the up and down. I'm back at a long run next weekend-20 miles which I'll do running the paved trail out to the Dayton Metroparks area downtown (and back).

Pros:     *IT'S A TRAIL
             *It is gorgeous
             *I saw TONS of wildlife-frogs, bunnies, deer, nasty bugs, and lots of butterflies
             *I feel more connected to my run....I pay attention more to my footing, I'm focused on each                   step, and it just feels better.
             *Pretty much the entire trail is SHADED. OMG, this is glorious. Granted, I was running                       before it hit 80* today, but in the shade it's just that much better.

Cons:    *Nowhere to refill your waterbottle besides the trailhead, so taking extra water is a must
             *I rolled my right ankle and screamed like a little bitch. Thankfully, I saw nobody else on the                 trails the entire time I was out there, so no embarrassment.
             *Having to dodge spiderwebs. Or realizing too late and getting a chest or face full of web.                     Again, with the screaming and freaking out.
             *Basically nothing else. Everything else was 1,000x better than road running.

     Along my run, I saw something relatively small-but still large enough to catch my eye-jump/move/scurry about 2 feet in front of me and it stopped me in my tracks. I couldn't immediately see it, so I thought it was probably a GIANT spider, which freaked me the eff out. But when I looked closer, it was the cutest little frog! I picked him up and took a few pics before letting him free again. The kids would have LOVED it! George was less than impressed:

     And just to solidify his "Price Charming" status, he had bacon cooking in the oven when I got home! I was vegging out on our bed when he delivered a slice to me. *Swoon* Seriously, he knows me too well. I fix him cappuccino and bring it to him in bed my mornings off, he makes me bacon. This is why we work. And with that, we're off to the pool with the kids!