Forest-y Service

 Well, I've messed myself up again.

How out of character, right?

I was less than 3km into a (shortened) run to the farmers' market on Saturday morning. It had been going well; I was moving pretty smoothly, and even passed someone else who was running out there (which never happens: either seeing someone else running in the singletrack, or passing anyone). Then - in literally the last heckin' metre of non-groomed trail - I caught my right toe on something.

Not the same spot - this was earlier.

Not wanting to hit the deck and possibly re-aggravate the damage I'd done the week before, I managed to catch myself at the last moment before I fell. That's the good news.

The bad news is that - as I landed heavily on my left leg - something went POP right where my butt meets the back of my thigh. An explosion of pain confirmed that this was not a positive development.

I tried to walk it off. I tried to run a little. I could manage running, but it was definitely not bueno.

Walking uphill wasn't great, either.

So, I got Tank to come meet me just off the end of the trail, still ending up at the market late enough that something I'd been hoping to grab sold out just as I got in line to purchase it. It was just that kind of day.

The reason I'd done a shorter run down in the first place was I'd had a weird idea about trying to follow the 40km of the Guelph Hiking Trail Club's Radial Line Trail from Limehouse back to Guelph. I've never seen the trail and know very little about it, so it was going to be an adventure! However, with a strained or torn hamstring on top of a closure of a section of the trail, I changed my plans.

I went for a bit of a walk instead..

Wilkes Dam, not far from my starting point in Waterworks Park

Beautiful day

Looking back as I crossed a boundary

Two feet and a heartbeat

Not a lot of variety, but not a lot to trip over, either.

Transitioning between segments

Looking back downriver

I did see a bunny, a mink, and 5 deer

Tank met me twice along the way so I could refill with water & snacks, plus pick up my headlamp and a sweater

Out of trail - still a couple of kilometers to go

That'll do.

Seven hours of walking didn't seem to have any negative effect on the damaged hamstring, so I've been trading my training runs for walks instead.

Which isn't so bad, really, but seems to take forever
(Not that I run particularly fast, either)

I've been trying to behave myself, though I have run a few little steps here and there.

Just testing, you know?

I'm trying to just take it as the universe telling me that an event I have coming - in which I confirmed my registration the day before I wrecked myself - will be more walking than running, so I better get my walking up to snuff.

I've even done some trail, and completely failed to trip and hurt myself again (so far)!

In any case, I wouldn't have had time to run this weekend anyway, since we're off to the Haliburton Forest tomorrow to volunteer at the New and Improved AS2!

IT'S BACK!

Good luck to everyone racing Falling Water this weekend, and to all the runners heading up to the forest I'll see you Saturday!

I'll try not to hurt myself any further before then..