OK. Let me preface this entry with the following statement. I am a Jackass. There. I got that out of the way and preemptively took the sting out of hearing it from you should when you feel the need to point it out to me. You see the whole thing started on Saturday. Last Saturday we took McKenna to go see the Nutcracker in Northampton. We were running late, and I found myself parking the car 90 seconds before the show was scheduled to begin. So, I grabbed my 29 pound daughter and ran the 3/10th of a mile to the theater. My leg felt fine after a week’s rest. Later that same night while trying to kill time between the end of the show and the 7:30 dinner reservations at Spoletos I wandered into the Mountain Goat. And what did I find? A kick a** pair of Solomon trail runners for 50% off.
Now fast-forward to today. I’ve been itching to start adding the miles again, and today seems like a perfect day for a trail run. Nice soft ground to ease my legs back into the stride. I headed out for the Quabbin a little later than I had planned, but no big deal. I parked my car, found the trailhead and started breaking in the new kicks. Soon I was by a small river and enjoyed the view of a few beavers. They will almost certainly spawn another beaver that will end up on my land again next year, but for the time being I was enjoying watching them work. 
I headed up a hill and soon I encountered a gorgeous 10-point buck. He tolerated me following him for a bout a 1/4 mile before he ducked into the thick underbrush.
It was about this time that it hit me, “Hey, it’s dusk right now.” Did I do anything about it? No. I just kept running. I was past that one mile yucky feeling stage and I was starting to feel good. I charged up the hills and I glided down the back sides. This is when I had my first fall. I’m not lying when I say this. I laughed all the way down the hill. I looked like a freakin idiot, but I laughed anyway. To get back up to the trail I had to grab onto trees and roots. Pretty funny. Now, I’m really starting to notice how dark it is getting, so I turn around confident in my navigational skills and even more confident in the GPS in my hand. Long story short, I got lost, fell again and ended up relying on my iPhone as an impromptu flashlight to find my way back to the road. What a great run! Can’t wait to do it again.
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