I hate running, to be honest I don't really even care for most cardio unless some sort of sport is going on like basketball or soccer (no one plays american football over here, unfortunately.)
But this is why trail running appeals to me so much, it's like a hike but it can be a race if you want it to be because there are normally 20 or 30 people involved.
That was the case on last weeks short, but very dangerous hike / run.
The safety briefing is more of a joke than anything else, because most members are already aware of the rules and if you are not there is plenty of time to discuss it on trail. Basically, when you encounter a circle the trail continues somewhere in the vicinity within 100 meters or so. Once it is found you "break" the circle in the direction that the path continues so that people can behind you can easily find it.
This particular run was significantly shorter than others I have done but far more treacherous.
About 1.5 km in, we headed into that and were faced with a circle check and I was looking at this really steep hill of probably 75 degrees or so and was thinking "there is no way we have to go up that!" ... but that is exactly what the guy who made the trail did to us. Several people fell and also dirt and rocks were getting kicked down the hill onto the people that were behind.
my climb was made even more difficult because I carry a bottle of water with me and well, it's tough to grab a tree for support when you are carrying something. I also couldn't get a photo so you're just going to have to take my word for it.
Once we got to the top it became much easier but now everyone was dirty and sweaty as hell.
Here you can see "Alice" (who is a man) running the trail at the top. That 3k or so was nice, but as they say "what goes up must come down" and thankfully the decline was a little more gradual than the incline and we were even treated to a nice view of a lake of sorts.
This is clearly a flooded quarry rather than an actual lake, but if you look closely you can see that there were a few people swimming in it anyway. This was near the end.
Except for the really dangerous beginning, this was not a tough run at less than 5k. Tomorrow is the big one and it has me a little bit nervous because it is a half-marathon and also off road. I will be preparing for it a bit more than I do these other runs and will also bring extra socks, water, and probably some band-aids and food as well.
Wish me luck! I'm gonna need it as I have never never attempted something like this before.