Last night I photographed a Sweet 16 at a catering hall here on Staten Island. It was a long night! I arrived at 6:45pm and was basically on my feet, snapping away (over 500 pictures!) until after midnight. But there was one really epic highlight…..they had the most amazing cupcakes….really the best i’ve ever tasted.
yes please
I finally fell asleep about 1am (on the couch nevertheless) unsure if i’d awake to the alarm or not. Earlier in the day I noticed on Facebook there was a local running group posting about a trail run they were leading about 15 minutes from my house. It was open to all paces. I had been on these trails before for a 10k that was back in January.
This was from the 10k this past January because I didn’t my phone with me to take pics today. #fail
trail running in winter is a lot less buggy!
This morning I heard the alarm go off upstairs (remember, i fell asleep on the couch) and figured i’d better run up and shut it off before my whole neighborhood hated me for ruining their saturday morning (yes, my alarm is that loud and obnoxious). I quickly got into my running gear, took the dog out and I was on my way.
I met up with the group at 8am. It ended up being a group of 4. I managed to stay with them but felt like I was putting a lot of effort into keeping up. And of course I couldn’t really afford to stop and take any pics of the trails themselves because I would have really fallen off. Trail running is quite challenging (especially in this brutal heat). It’s impossible to keep the same pace as flat street running. I tend to slow down and step a bit apprehensively when it is rocky and “rooty” (tree roots). We also went through narrow areas with tall brush on either side and across makeshift bridges that were wobbly. And all this was done simultaneous to some major swatting of bugs from my face. I’d consider my effort to feel more of a normal road tempo run. It ended up being an average of 13:26 pace per mile but I’d say it felt like 10:15 pace for me which is my tempo run pace.
our route
Made it back to my car!
I ended up really feeling a sense of accomplishment when we were done. Meeting new people was cool too. A total 360 from yesterday’s funk.
I think last minute decisions can be a great thing every now and again. It was worth it. Hmmm, I wonder if the bugs were following me because they could smell cupcake in my sweat!
I was home by 9:15am which was awesome. I’m now editing the photos from last night and enjoying some lazy couch cuddling with the doodle. Tomorrow I’m running the Queens 10K so I’m going to lay low for the rest of today.
Chillaxin
Question: Been trail running before? Prefer pavement? I wonder what percentage of runners spend equal time running trails and pavement.
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