It's been a very long wait for me to hit the trails around my town. I think it's been around 16 months since the last time I ran on the wonderful pathway system that is literally steps from my house. I really missed them. I finally went for my first trail run. I wore my favourite KSOs. And it was glorious!
I avoided the trails because with the herniated disc and the total lack of core stability, any slip on an uneven surface could have been extremely painful and detrimental to my healing. So when I started running again a few months ago, I decided to stick to the sidewalk. It was either that or not run at all.
It was a short run on the trails for my first time back at it in over a year. Just one way around my neighbourhood. Nothing steep in either direction but lots of red shale, some gravel, some grass, a little mud, and a creek crossing. It was so great to run on a soft surface again with trees on either side of me.
I also noticed how different uneven terrain feels like on the ankles. It is quite a different workout for the lower legs to run on rocky, slippery, and generally uneven ground. I marveled at how sore my ankles were shortly after the run. I'm glad there was no pain, just a happy muscle soreness.
Eventually, I'll move off the sidewalks for almost all of my runs and get back to the fantastic trail system around my town.
