Texas Ranch Running

Two days driving and no cardio since Wednesday, my body actually began to stiffen up.  My joints ached.  My hips ached, my legs, my back, even my arms.  My first morning waking in Texas, I just had to get out and run, run to get rid of this stiffness.

I went for low mileage today, just a leisurely run about the ranch.  The grass was high.  The thorns cut deep.  Two vultures emerged from the trees, scaring the daylights out of me – their big black wingspan looked like it was SIX feet wide.  No lie.

My legs got pretty scratched and cut up.  The terrain actually drew blood.  The terrain was not difficult in the sense that it was hilly.  It was difficult in the sense that there was no trail.  There was some dirt roads, and some nice grove areas with little obstacles.  But most of it was plowing through thorny brush or waist high grass.  I’m not used to bushwhacking on the trails I normally run : )

Still, the run was delightful (as it pours down rain in my hometown, the sun shines brightly here in Texas).  I was completely alone (except for those vultures) and I got rid of those aches.

First quarter mile of today’s run (out to end of driveway)

Where the branches snagged my earphones (I lost a piece in the brush, never to find)

Post Oak grove in the wintertime

1 of two stock ponds

I just thought this was pretty

Running through dry creek bed

Stopping to pose in dry creek bed

Looking for the road back to the house (never found it, because it’s not there anymore : ) – the road, not the house. : ))

Miles logged:  5.17