Need to Grow Some...

Nerve, and lots of it.

Running trails with Stetson is an amazing high, but I kept slowing down and worrying about falling today when we were out on Red Top.  At Kennesaw and the Chattahoochee River trails I am confident of footing and I know the parts of the system that I use well enough to be able to anticipate footing with a fair degree of accuracy.

Red Top Mountain is an entirely different beast.  The tree roots and embedded rocks sticking up in the trail are in some places as frequent as every foot strike.  And now that fall is approaching, the pine needle and leaf coverage on the trail make can make them dangerously, (for a clumsy toe dragger like myself), hidden from sight.

On more than one occasion I have unknowingly slid my toe underneath one of the roots or slipped off the side of one of the rocks only to find myself hurled onto the ground with torn clothes, bloody limbs and/or hands and bruises following shortly after.  Admittedly those incidents also involved one or more Siberian(s), whose main goal was to run as hard as possible while dragging the dead weight human at the back of the leash along, but the memory still triggers a sense of caution within me as soon as I see the first sign of roots in my path.

The caution is not serving me well for purposes of training.  I need to be going as hard as I can on those trails and I need the variety of locations to keep me fresh.  Red Top ought to be a frequently traversed trail system as I head into the fall and winter months of training for the March marathon.  I'm just going to have to get over it and let go so I can utilize the training time and conditions as best as possible.

Stetson is a steady partner, I can't shrug any of the blame for my fear on him.  The leash is often loose between us and I frequently have to choke up on it to keep the slack from tripping us both.  He has proven himself trustworthy with deer and doesn't insist on hitting the end of the line to try to chase.  Nope, he's not the problem, it lies entirely with me.  I have to learn to trust my own feet and frankly I need to build some nerve.  Hoping experience will foster strength and nerve growth for me because this place is just too serene and peaceful at "O'rise and shine let's get our run on" early in the morning.

View from the bridge going into the park this morning

Hole through tree on the loop going out

Backside of same tree on the return

Challenge is what keeps my eye on tomorrow.  Hoping that experience will foster growth and much needed nerves.