Tuesday 3/15/11

I was pretty much a bum for the first 5 hours of being awake today. I just drank coffee and watched ESPN. I was determined to run on some grass today to give the body a little relief, so I drove 25 min. north to Winton Woods. I looked at the park, which is 2,555 acres on a map and it looked like there were some blacktop paths all over which hopefully had enough grass along them to run in. I parked next to the huge 156 acre Winton Lake and started my run on the edge of said path. After crossing a bridge less than a mile into the run I saw a trail heading off to the right. I decided to run onto it since it looked nice and soft, thinking in my head it was probably only one or two hundred yards long. Well it just kept going and ended up veering off of the path and pretty soon I was running in the woods! The trail was pretty muddy and hilly, but still very runnable. I decided to keep going and see where it took me. After about 2 miles I came upon a creek that was about 20 feet across and about knee deep in water. I said screw it and I jumped in and ran through it. After about another half mile I came into a field and realized I had been running on horse trails and was now on the horse farm where they originate. I turned around and ran back the same way (including through the creek again). Once I was back where I had first come upon the trail I saw that it continued in the other direction, so of course I wanted to see where that would take me. It went through a very hilly patch and through some sort of field with bird houses on poles probably every 15-20 yards or so. The trail took me back into the woods and winded around until it dead ended at some country road. I turned around and headed back the same way, then back around the lake to my car. In all the run was 7.8 miles in 1:00:19 (7:44 pace). I figured there are about 5.5 miles of horse trails in all. I will be coming back here quite often, such a fun run! For dinner Carrie and I headed to Gordo's Pub for some burgers and brews. The food was great, but not too expensive. The beer and wine selection was outstanding. I had the Surf and Turf burger with a side of Mac and Cheese, a Dogfish Head 60 Min IPA (from Milton, DE) and a Flying Dog Raging Bitch IPA (from Frederick, MD). We will be back there for sure!