An interesting run

Today I didn't feel like running, so of course, I went running.

I drove to the forest and I started running the main trail. Being that it is called "Six Mile Road" I assume it is probably six miles long. Just a guess, though.

So as I ran along, I really felt like junk and I kept having to re-encourage myself not to just give up and call it a day. Then I saw this little trail off to the right. I thought it might be the trail up to the xeric hill (tallest point on the north forest) which we hiked once this summer. It was really steep then, so I thought, well, I'll at least run up that thing and get something out of this. However, it was not... it was a trail to the tornado alley!

When the tornado came through last year it literally cut an "alley" in the woods-- there are HUNDREDS of downed trees (all facing the same direction) in a corridor where it came through. It was absolutely awesome looking. What made it better is that the whole time I was looking at the damage, I was thinking: I WAS HERE WHEN THIS HAPPENED AND I WASN'T EVEN AFRAID. I mean, this was major damage. It was probably about a 2 mile loop through the tornado alley, and then another 3 or so miles back to the road, so all in all, I got in 8-9 miles, and I was happy about it.

It's pretty strange to think about the fact that while all those trees were crashing down I was in those woods. I think I will run there tomorrow again, but try for 10-12 miles!