Thinking outside of the Nat

Routine
had me suiting up to go over to the gym and shoot some hoops, as well
as lift some weights. I was backing out of the driveway and looked at
the thermometer on my car and it said 45 deg F. I stopped in my tracks.
What a waste of a nice sunny day to go inside and work out.

I
pulled back in, dumped off my gym bag and grabbed the camera to head
out. No watch, and only a vague plan of where I was running. I figured
at least 5 miles would do me right.

Glass Eye on Me

Out
the door, down the street, past the mayor meeting point and I was into
the woods again. A quick bit on the Overlook trail to the Overlook
itself (picture below) and then down through the connector trail to the
Cascade Valley Oxbow Trail. I found a little side trail and expored it
on the way down....one I had never seen before.

From the Overlook

At
the bottom of the hill, I saw the large sledding hill my daughters love
and of course on this warm day, it was devoid of any fluffy white stuff.

Sledding Hill

I
run along the river right up to water's edge along the river smoothed
stones and pebbles. As I come out of the park there is a short section
of road to connect to the upper sections of Cascade Valley park. I
noticed a long straight unmarked road off to the right, and decided
since this is an exploration day, I need to run it. So I go down it,
heading towards the towpath, and I see a sign "Akron Police K-9 park - No Trespassing." At this point, I trespass just a little
so I can see the area where they train the dogs. I retreat back to the
road and finish the climb up to the entrance to Cascade Valley again.

Back
into the woods, and through some sloppy sections, tiptoeing to maintain
sock dryness as long as possible. The wind storm of the night before
has felled a large tree across the trail in here, and I mess around for
about two minutes, thinking I can clear the trail. I cannot lift the
entire tree, but figure I may be able to snap the two sections apart
and move them separately. When I start pulling against the split
figuring to split the tree, it is VERY springy and I can imagine in
snapping in a bad way and injuring me, so I back off. Folks will just
have to climb over this one until someone comes in with a chainsaw. I
wind around through the woods, back along the river and you pop out at
the Signal Tree. I always run around the Signal Tree before taking the
other trail back into the woods. Today I took some photos.

This is as far away from the camera as I can get in 10 seconds.

And running back.

I
get back along the river and am now headed towards the State Road
bridge. Up the stone stairs, and then up the wooden stairs (NO walking Tony,
all running!) and I have to decide. Keep it short and go up to State
Road and home? Or go down the highbridge trail, over to the Gorge and
take a loop through one of my all time favorite trails in the Gorge.
The Gorge. I need to see my trail.

I am really feeling
good...down highbridge, imagining how Josh and OPod felt coming through
here in August; OPod about to finish his first 100, and Josh his
second! I imagine that I am running as fast as Michael Hayden did
through this stretch, he banked 7:30 miles through much of the end of
the race...I speed up and guess I am about that pace, but cannot fathom
doing that at mile 98 in a race. Wow that kid was zooming!

Into
the Gorge. I am very happy on these trails. I take the lower so I can
see the river, and the pipe, and just get to see more and do more
before I go home. Up the stairs, and I get to dance through the rock
gardens and hallways on the famous "difficult" section of the Gorge
Trail. Thinking of a careful Kimba here. But I am running uphill and
not down, and I don't fall. (Josh - Ed Viesturs says "Going uphill is
often easier than going down..." Kim knows)

The Waterfall at the Dam on the Gorge

Mike the Explorer!

I
put the camera away now and just enjoy the scenery and pop out of the
"secret" entrance and back onto the roads. Less than a mile now and I
am home. Total distance after mapping, 7.7 miles, time unknown. I just
enjoyed the day and guess all my running was around 10:00 miles with
plenty of photo stops. I really wish I could have shared this with Tony. I probably would have driven him crazy stopping for all the photos.