Jim Rodgers Hiking Trail

My mom has continued to tell me about this new trail that is about 3 miles from our house. Seeing as how running in our neighborhood is getting a tad boring and monotonous, I took her suggestion and went to check it out. I wasn't sure what to expect because I didn't even know there was a trail that close to our neighborhood, and I'm always a little apprehensive about running in an unknown area alone. But I decided to put my big girl pants on and head out.

I don't know why I worried. It was 12:30 on a Wednesday...who would be out running? No one. I had the trail all to myself and it was awesome! I'm so glad I sucked it up and went. The terrain was a nice change to the constant pavement in my neighborhood, and the scenery wasn't too shabby either. I started off on the trail where the beginning of the terrain was made up of wood chips. I was a little worried at that point because that's not the most comfortable footing to run on. But after a few steps it turned into a nice little dirt trail, with a few rocks and sticks along the way. I didn't mind those obstacles, because it kept my mind on trying to avoid them so I wouldn't bust it and off thinking about how many miles I've traveled or what my time would be (I went into this knowing my time would be slower than normal due to the change in terrain and obstructions that came in my path). 

I love the first time running a new trail. You don't know where the heck you're going and there's always something new to see. I passed some soccer fields, train tracks, a quarry pool, a duck pond, and some wildlife (yes, I'm counting birds and squirrels...this is Texas). After the first mile or so the trail split off into different directions. I took a wild guess, went with Door #2, and just went with it. Thankfully, it turned into a nice 4 mile loop back to my car. Atleast if I would have gone the wrong way, it would have been easy to go back (unlike our adventure in the Rocky Mountains).

I ended up finishing 4.25 miles in 39:45 (9:23/mile). I will definitely go back at least once a week just to shake things up. 

I also remembered to use an app I had downloaded a while back that my friend Kristen told me about. It's called Charity Miles and donates money to a charity of your choice based on your mileage. I wish I would have remembered to start using this back at the beginning of my journey (if I would have, I could have already donated $23)! You can read a little more about in my blog post here about apps for runners. 

02/06/2013: Miles run - 91 of 1000. Miles remaining - 909 of 1000