What's that on my face? That is the look of pure joy! I did a trail run today for the first time since I lived in England and it was awesome. It has been a long time since I've had so much fun on a run.
First, meet our fearless leader Anna. She has lived on Okinawa for 13 years, knows a lot of trails, and formed our new women's running group - WOOT (Women on Okinawa Trails).
Here are some shots of the ladies on the run (please excuse the blurriness). Here's Martha, Anna, and Tiffany soon after we left the road and hit the trail.
Here's Martha. Not only is she a runner, she is an all-star swimmer. Seriously, she holds multiple swim records in Japan. Plus, she co-founded a running club back in England in the town right next to where we lived. She is a very cool lady.
This is my running and Mt. Fuji partner, Tiffany. When we started running together we were pretty even in speed, but right now she's blowing me out of the water. She's incredible.
Some of the areas got pretty technical and I definitely admit to walking some of the tricky, uphill sections.
I had no idea that there were trails like this here on Okinawa. The scenery was gorgeous and it was so peaceful.
I loved having the chance to go over the river and through the woods:
We even got to see some wildlife:
At this point we were heading back to the car. Here's my other running partner Bri. She really pushed herself today and she did fantastic!
This is my favorite picture of the day because you can see the beautiful, clear sky and Tiffany is making it look effortless.
It was funny because I had to work much harder on this run than my recent road runs and the uphills felt way longer than the downhills, but I really can't describe how much enjoyment I got out of this run. I can hear Chris calling me a crunchy hippie, but somehow I just felt connected to the earth and nature on this run. Running seemed so easy. Don't get me wrong,the hills kept me huffing and puffing, but on the flat parts and the downhills I just felt like I was gliding.
When we were done we were all sweaty and muddy,
, but all of us finished with smiles on our faces.
3 comments:
This looks like such a good time. I was there in my mind. I will never have so much fun again running as when we used to go out. I would swap 3 miles on the treadmill with this trail run if I could.
Oh Mandy! The whole run I was thinking about our runs through Thetford Forest. I miss you so much. I can't believe how many miles we ran together.
WOOT!! I love it...how fun to have a supportive group of women to get out there and do something you love together. There is something about fresh air and being in the woods that really feeds my soul too. Some people are city people and some people are country people. I like the country because of trees!
Courtney
adventures in tri-ing
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