Patapsco State Park - Getting Lost

Hi!

I went trail running today. I have been wanting to go for some time now. But the fact that I have a Spartan Beast next weekend and zero trail runs in 6 months kind of .. accelerated things. I had to get at least one trail run in!

The obvious place to go is Patapsco State Park. It's huge and about 15 minutes from me. There are like 8172684 miles of trails and several areas to hike. I chose the Avalon area. Before going I researched which trails to run and read reviews of the trails. Alot of people said they got lost. Great! I am the queen of getting lost. No pressure.

I didn't get too many pictures of the cool stuff along the way, my phone was in my Camelback which isn't easy to access. I got some pics just some along the entrance.

Beginning of the trail

Reached the entrance to the trails. And it's straight up a HUGE hill. Like I couldn't run up the whole thing. I was like damn, is this what the whole trail is gonna be like? But it was just to get up out of the valley, once the hill was passed it ended up being alot of flat stretches. Easily runnable. The whole time I was comparing this trail to FATS (my old stomping grounds in South Carolina) FATS had several small hills throughout, whereas the hills on these trails were longer inclines. So not going uphill as often, but when I did it was tough.

Beginning of the trail, right before the big hill

It's a beautiful area. Spring is about to pop into full bloom within the next few days, so not tons of green just yet but it's coming soon. Lots of fallen logs to hurdle over. In the first 1-2 miles I encountered a water crossing that was about 1 foot deep. I took a split second to think about it, then jumped right in. Wasn't expecting water, but I have learned to always expect the unexpected - so I just went with it. The trails take you through a really pretty meadow with nice green grass and houses/farms up on the hill. And the trails were quite muddy. Closest thing I could get to a Spartan Race really. About 6 miles in I came to a split that took me to the Cascade trail. Down a huge hill (all I could think of was the fact that I had to run back up it later!) then flat for awhile, then the trail came to a creek with several crossings and turned into a very rocky path. I had to pull off some fancy foot work to maneuver the rocks, but I actually felt like I was flying through it. I got many weird looks from the hikers, there were tons of people around this area hiking or just hanging out. Cascade was pretty, almost reminded me of a "mountain" because it was so rocky. I turned around because I was 6 miles in and knew I had 2-3 more miles to go before reaching my car.

Up high on the hill, 8.5 miles in

This is where it got a little crazy. Passed a sign that said "Parking lot, 2 miles ->" But then the trail split off and it didn't say which way the parking lot was. The left was unmarked and the right was yellow blaze. Asked a couple of passing ladies if they knew the way. They pulled up the map on their phone and said "I think we're here, so you take the fork to the right" My gut told me to take the left fork, because I knew the right took me back in the direction I had came from, and the left was heading the direction of the main road. But I had never been here before so placed my trust in others that might know more than me. Big mistake! I went back through the meadow, about half a mile before coming to an old ruined house where a guy was taking pictures. Trail split off again with no signs, so I asked the guy and he pointed me back the way I came. Said it would be awhile no matter which way I went. Guess my instincts were correct. Came back, took the unmarked trail. Then it changed to an orange trail. It got hilly but I was still running for the most part. I was over 8 miles in at this point, saw a couple hikers and asked them if I was still going the right way. They said yes. Came up to yet another unmarked split, at this point I just pulled out my phone to make sure I wasn't going to get lost again. Phone said to take the white blazed trail and not the unmarked split off to the right. Finally after another half mile or so I began the descent back down to the road. 9.75 miles was the final reading. It took 2:12 with a 13:35 min/mile pace. I'd say this was pretty good considering I took breaks to walk/climb hills and talk to people. I was flying at 9:13 min/mile during one point of the run.

Gone muddin' 

Everyone out there looked at me like I was crazy. Running around dodging rocks, splashing through water when they were afraid to even step in it. Saw 2 other trail runners out there, both of them men. The weather was amazing, sunny and 60 with a cool breeze. Shirt, shorts, sunglasses! Took 1 gel (probably should have done 2) which was the pure maple syrup gel - it was really good and hit the spot nicely at mile 4. It felt great to hit the trails again and unleash some pent up energy out in the woods. I know I could have gone longer if I had to, so covering the distance of the Spartan Beast won't be a problem. The mountain might kick my ass, however.

Silly post run picture

As expected I'm feeling sore today. Right hip is a bit agitated, but this is the first time it's bothered me in months which is good news I suppose. Oh, and as an added bonus, my husband went rucking yesterday afternoon and I tagged along. He loaded his pack with 40 lbs and hit the walking trails. That ended up being 3 miles. So I pretty much ran/walked a half marathon yesterday. Last week he also ran once. I'm so happy he is up and moving.

Today I'm just gonna hang out and take a rest day. Next week it'll be 2 gym workouts, 2 runs, then it's Beast time.