This is running.

There are a lot of runs that rank in the maintenance miles category. Runs that you do just to get the miles and keep your head above water so to speak. Other runs though, are the kind that you logged all those previous miles to get to. The runs, not races, that you will remember for years to come.

Tonight's run ranked high on the later category. It might have only lasted less than a mile though had it not been for Keith pointing out that there was a porcupine in the trail about 20 feet in front of me. And after a brief stop to watch the little guy run off into the woods, we carried on.

The general idea I had for this run was to run the Surry loop, but branch off onto the single tracks that line the trail we've never deviated from. Even though I've never run those trails, I was sure that I could somehow manage to get down the hill to the trail that goes to Dort Rd. How hard could it be?

With the first step off the familiar jeep trail on to the single track, we were flying down hill over rolling turns and stream crossings. At each new trail juncture, we hazarded a guess as to which way to turn. Eventually we found the much heard of, but never seen, Lily Pond. After that, we followed a less traveled single track downhill towards some nice waterfall type areas. At this point the trail seemed to fade out and we weren't quite sure what to do or where to go.

Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal. We could have bushwacked our way downhill to the lake, where we were sure to find the trail I was thinking of. But it was getting late. The skies were cloudy and the forest was getting dark. Neither of us packed our headlamps, so time was of the essence. Rolls of thunder could be heard in the distance and rain drops started or occasionally graze our skin. This was not a place to be for much longer.

We decided to turn around and retrace our steps back to the last trail juncture which I was familiar with and I would be able to get us out of the woods in a reasonable amount of time. I knew the run we had to the water falls was a solid downhill effort and every step back uphill reinforced just how burly it was. As we wove our way back up to safety, the woods darkened more and the rain drops became more frequent. The thunder became louder.

Once back on the usual trail, we began our decent through muddy trail and dark forest corners. Lightning lit up the sky above and the rain became steady as the temperature dropped. The trail was pretty damn dark right now. It was time to hall ass out of the woods and get to the comforts of Gunn Rd, where we could run the roads back into town with relative ease.

Out on Gunn Road, we ran the initial downhill mile in a cold down pour. Thunder was breaking right overhead and it was somewhere in this moment that we noted how bad ass this was. Nobody else was out doing this. Keith just started laughing at one point as the sky lit up yet again. That's when I noted, this is running. This is what I signed up for. This was the real deal. We were soaked head to toe, pushing the pace to keep from getting hypothermia, and deriving joy from every moment of it. It was a solid 15 mile effort, worth every maintenance mile I've run.