Showing posts with label seminole state forest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seminole state forest. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Shh! What's that sound?

Miles of wilderness all to myself.



The wind.  

Animals scurrying through the brush.  



The call of a bird overhead.  

The gurgling of water from a nearby creek.


My footsteps.

My breathing.  

My heartbeat.  

Nothing else.  

It’s a beautiful sound.  

It’s musical.


I never understood why people put plugs in their ears when they run.

Monday, March 7, 2011

If you’re not enjoying the scenery, you’re running too fast.

Blackwater Creek
I’m running as much as ever and running trails at every opportunity but a hectic few weeks kept me largely unplugged from the digital world.

To make up for it, I give you scenes from the Seminole State Forest, with very little commentary. I ran the trail on Sunday, got lost twice, startled a deer (OK I confess, the deer startled me), got baked by the sun, struggled with runner’s knee, carried too little water and got dehydrated, got scratched, dirty, bitten . . . and loved every minute of it.

I should credit the quote I used for the title of this post as being from a book I'm reading, Running Through the Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon.  It's a collection of race reports from ultra marathons that I am finding very inspirational.





Luxury accomodations courtesy of the Florida Trail Assoc.

Hiker sign in


This is where you really sense the solitude, a nice change of pace from the long green tunnel.





Eden?

A little road running was a nice break from uneven ground and very easy on the legs.


Getting lost was very easy. The trail looked obvious enough in the top photo but when I reached the tree line it narrowed to a game trail and then vanished. Doubling back I found the actual trail was a much smaller footpath hidden behind palmetto to the right of the trail marker. I didn’t even see it the first time through.

I've been told this is my element.