Shawnee Mission Park

I hit the MTB trails out at SMP tonight for my first trail run since Red Bridge Ramble. I was definitely rusty. I hit the trail and about 150 feet into it, I looked at my Garmin and......my head is suddenly and exactly 73 inches ahead of my shoes. I crashed and burned, rolled and I was back on my feet in one motion and thinking....way to make an ass out of yourself right off the bat. Then I heard the people behind me start rating my crash. The first comment went something like "Wow, that was cool. I wish my falls looked like that." Followed by a "that was one of the more graceful falls I have seen." I guess after all the martial arts and football over the years, I should know how to fall. It was my first trail crash. I have witnessed a few during my brief trail running experience, and all of them have been pretty big mud-compressing thuds with some loss of skin.....I was able to keep my feet under me for the next 4.48 miles of the 4.5 mile run.
I ended up averaging a 9:50 on the trails which I was very happy with since my last trail run was in March and I am still a little leg-dead from the Colorado Marathon. I need to hit the trails far more often now to get ready for Psycho Wyco and I need hilly ones. SMP works well for these on shorter runs but at some point I need to get some WyCo Lake runs in and get a taste of those real hills.
I did notice that I run better on the trails at night with my light than I do during the day....not sure why...maybe it is a focus thing. At night I probably concentrate on the trail more and there is less to look around at.....but I had fun and actually had forgotten how much fun it is.