Don’t Forget Your Shoes and You are Not Invincible Heber City Trail Run#10

I had plans to write about this run, but it was supposed to be a romantic telling of an awesome new trail in Heber City, Utah, with beautiful pictures and more musings of how much I love to run trail.  The trail was indeed beautiful, but the run didn’t really go as planned.  So THAT is what this post is about.

I am not always great at just “rolling with it.”  If I have a plan or a certain idea in mind, I like to stick to it.  It is the stubbornness in me.   No matter how much I want to believe that I am carefree and spontaneous, I know that I often get frustrated when my plans or expectations are not met.   Even if I claim I have no expectation I will admit that sometimes I do anyway. These are personal expectations. The problem arises when my personal expectations become not so personal because my mood suddenly changes from happy hippy trail girl to trail demon.  The demon usually works itself out in the end.  If I am running alone it has very little consequence, but if not alone I may owe someone an apology after.   It is a good thing I have the best running friends.   Some, I believe, silently understand, or if they don’t they have no judgement.  To those that I have clashed with,  hopefully I remembered to apologize.

So yesterday started off great.  A nice lazy Sunday morning. Breakfast, a walk to my favorite local coffee shop, and temps out of this world. 60+ degrees in February!   I was feeling energetic and excited to run 10.5 miles on new trail in Heber with Casey, and then a nice dinner date with my sister and hubby.   The 45 min drive up the canyon was beautiful.  Seeing the complete lack of snow in the canyon and the normally snow packed cross country ski trails practically non-existent was worrisome, but the blue skies and warm sunshine made it impossible to dwindle on the problem for too long.     We grabbed our bags out of the car, and headed inside my sister’s house to say hello, change and head back out the door for a run.  As I am changing into shorts and thinking to myself it doesn’t seem like February, it hits me.  I left my running shoes!   I look inside my bag, pulling everything out in hope even though I already know the answer.  I tell Casey of my failure, and then go back out to the car to make sure that they were not in the trunk.  I knew they wouldn’t be. I remember seeing them out of my big green running bag when getting ready, and thought of putting them in it, but they had dry mud from my run the day before, so I thought I would just grab them separately.  I thought it, but didn’t do it.   FRAK! “I can just run in my Converse,”  I was not ready to give up this trail yet.  My sister offers some shoes, they are two sizes too big, but in desperation I tried them on and decided “good enough.” The looks of concern from my sister and Casey made me assure them that I would be careful, and if it had to be I would just hike.   I did not want to hike however, that was NOT the plan.

Casey and I drove 1.5 miles to the trail head and again we both remarked on how crazy warm it was.   We found the sign clearly marking the trail, and started running on the winding single track climbing slowly up the hill.   The ground soft from melted snow, but packed and dry enough to not collect on our shoes too much.   About 1.5 miles into the run, I knew I would not be able to run 10.5 miles in the borrowed shoes without dire consequences, the question was how far could I run.  I was running slowly and paying careful attention to how I was placing my feet hoping that would extend what I could do.   I wanted to see where the trail went, and I didn’t want to ruin Casey’s run plan either.   We went 3.5 miles, almost to the road where I knew we would then run on paved trail for about half a mile and then jump back on single track for the return.   I badly wanted to continue, but I was feeling tired, awkward, and uncomfortable.   I knew I was already pushing the limit so with regret and apology I told Casey we better turn around.  I could tell he was having a good running day, and I felt bad cutting his run short.   I was mad I left my shoes, and my goodness I felt like I was on fire!   At first I accounted it to the extremely warm temps, but it was a different kind of hot.  Somewhat feverish, clammy, and my heart seemed to be racing despite my ever slowing down.   The shoes could not be making me feel this way.   Why do I feel like crap?!   Casey is pulling ahead, and I feel myself being frustrated.  I let it go, I tell him I am feeling bad, and to not wait for me.  I keep running a little, but then finally decided to walk to cool myself off for a few minutes.  He turned around and I tell him to finish out the run, I would start running again soon.   In my head, I am very frustrated, but really I know what is going on.  It is a reminder to myself that I am not invincible.  I found out a couple of days before that I have an infection, and started on some antibiotics.  I really have not felt any side affects or symptoms of the infection, so I have not taken any rest in my running.   I believe that THIS was my body telling me to stop.   That I can’t run three days straight for 1.5 hours or more while my body is fighting an infection.   WHY CAN’T I BE INVINCIBLE, I am on new trail on a beautiful day!

So there it was.  An imperfect day, but really just lessons learned.  Don’t forget your shoes, don’t try to wear your sisters shoes that are two sizes too big (my feet and legs are paying for it today), and don’t ignore that you are sick even if you don’t feel sick.   I did enjoy my run, and I can’t wait to return to Heber and run the original planned route.    I accepted what was reality yesterday, the run did not go as planned, and my expectations were not met.   I let it be, showered, and stuffed my face with a delicious dinner with people I love.

I managed a couple of shots, but stay tuned for a proper post about this trail in the future. I will remember my shoes.