3:20 of trails and some very evil hills!

Yesterday, I went to the Intraining Easter Egg run at the West End. Unfortunately, once I got there, I decided not to run - partly because they wanted $25.00 which I couldn't afford (I had thought it was $15.00 - I'm sure it used to be!)

More annoyingly, my foot is *still* not right which is what sealed the deal. I wore heels the day before at work from 8am - 11pm (it was a long day!) so that may have had something to do with the pain kicking off again.

I'm trying not to launch into a big whinge about my foot but it's driving me absolutely insane. I go for a run (or seemingly, wear heels!) then I have to take one or two days off for it to settle, then I think perhaps it's okay, run again and it hurts again. I'm thinking I'm going to have to go and beg the doctor to see if they can scan it for free. I just want to know I'm not doing any more damage whilst I'm blatantly ignoring the problem and running anyway. Bad, bad me. I know it's naughty.

On that note, I was very, very naughty this morning and ran/walked/ran for *drumroll* 3:20 on the trails around Mount Cootha. It was such a perfect morning this morning, I just couldn't help myself. Gorgeous clear sparkly blue skies, just the hint of a cool breeze, the temperature is perfect and everything smells faintly like eucalyptus. I've had a map of the Mount Cootha trails pinned next to my computer for a couple of months and decided it was time to go and test some of them out.

I started out at the JC Slaughter Falls (for ease of parking!) and ran the Hovea track and then the Aboriginal art trail. It's not very long and somewhere along the way I found a fork which led up into the bush for a couple of kms so I decided (feeling all adventurous) to follow it and see where it led. Turns out it was a closed trail which had been shut for revegetation. Oops. Shame it's shut, it was lovely. It came out somewhere on the usual road to the top, so I turned right and ran up the hill towards the cafe. I consulted my little map and turned onto the Honeyeater track. Fun going down, nice views along the way. Down the bottom of that, I did a quick loop around the Butterfly Trail and had a bit of a look at the 'enviro hut' thing they've got down the bottom. By the look of the map, somewhere it links up to the 'Kokoda track' and a few others I'd love to do, so I'll have to consult the street map and go back. It'd be great to have run every single trail on the mountain at least once.

On the way back up, I think I came across the Reservoir track (not on my map) which is quite short in terms of distance, but has some almighty hills in it. Parts of it were so steep, I actually had to stop twice whilst WALKING up it to catch my breath. Mental note: perfect spot for some six foot training, I'm thinking.

Climbing back up the Honeyeater track, I then ran back towards the cafe, then veered left down the Summit Track which leads back towards where I'd parked. Stopped for a quick toilet break and then turned out of the JC Slaughter Falls car park and went left, past the Hoop Pines picnic area and the Silky Oaks one.

Just after that, I turned up into the Powerful Owl Track. Holy crap! I wasn't feeling too fresh after a couple of hours anyway, but there are some more BIG hills on that one! Headed for Channel 9, but then detoured to Simpson Falls and then the Euginia Circuit. I had to walk the majority of that one - heaps of loose rocks and tree roots. Interesting seeing where the falls where (or at least, where I assume they should be - was completely dry) and hopped across the falls to the other side, where the trail snaked up the hill again.

Eventually, I wove my way back to the Powerful Owl trail and discovered that going down the enormous hills was a lot worse than going up! The sensation was rather like standing on marbles whilst on the edge of a cliff. How I didn't end up going arse over tit all the way to the bottom, I don't know!

Feeling quite pleased with myself (and glad to be back at sea level!) I then headed back along the road to JC Slaughter Falls, finishing with 3:20 on the clock. Quite how far I went, I've got no idea. I'm inclined to think that it wasn't actually very far - most of the trails are pretty short, and even though I ran both ways along most of them, I don't think it added up to much. That said, trails take practice and walking trails at a reasonable pace isn't always easy, either.

Time on feet, baby.

Anyway, next on my agenda (foot-willing!) is working out what order to do the trails in, in order to run every single trail in the same session. That ought to take me up to 6 or 7 hours, at least! Perhaps I'll post it on Coolrunning and see if anyone has a preplanned route.