Urban trail run.

Under a springtime sky.

With the changing of the season, trail running has been on my mind. While the athletic activity in running is rewarding to me, at heart I run to be outside enjoying this beautiful world we've been given. On my off-days from running I hike and I bike. It's all sweet.

(I've been known to use a treadmill in recuperation phases from injuries. The running part of it feels good, the sweat is just as delicious, the breathing is invigorating. But it doesn't touch my soul.)

Often in the lowlands of Boulder Valley (elevation 5600 feet or so) I'll run neighborhoods and enjoy the landscaping, the university campus for the architecture and landscaping, the foothills for the grasses and trees and rocks and creeks--the landscaping. And of course the creek path system, all a carefully designed natural landscape. No matter where I run in my area here, the air and the humidity are comfortable and comforting.

This week, still easing back into a full distance regimen after the transition of working conditions, I did the garden landscaping at the Hawthorn Community Garden. With our garden at elevation still in early formative stages for the season I found encouragement and inspiration by seeing spring coming in in the valley. The fragrance of the grasses and the soils gave me energy to my fingertips. People are so clever in the way they lay out their plots of land, and as a community garden the variety is truly a work of art.

The loop around the garden space is about a mile, maybe a bit less--my gps was uncharged so I ran free of monitoring. Easy, flat, alternating surfaces of asphalt, gravel, woodchips, it was a splendid way to spend an hour or so.

Breathing. Waiting.

As I return to running I find my cardio and my skeleto-muscular system about at about equal levels of readiness, with a slight edge for better cardio conditioning. Last week I did a 4-mile run, easily within breath and HR target range, but felt a twinge of tenderness in my right knee the last half-mile or so. I kept my run today to 3 miles. It all felt great.