Well, not completely, but I did venture off the main road a little bit this past weekend and ran in some of the vineyard fields and the cornfields on my normal route.  I wanted to get in at least 6 miles over the weekend and it was a nice sunny and windy day on Sunday.  I was itching to get out for a run because I had been so busy with work and running to different places and doctor appointments with the kids.

Saturday morning was a lazy morning.  The family took our time waking up, eating, cleaning, making beds, the usual stuff you do on a lazy Saturday.  I sat in bed with a cup of tea with my husband and talked about Christmas gift ideas for the kids, and flights for our April vacation, and then I had to get moving.  It was nice to sit around and relax; but I can’t sit for very long.

I got dressed and was on the road around 1:00.  While I was on the road and observing the area around me, I took note that I’d like to go off road on my way home and run through part of the cornfield.  I kept going and went to the Gouveia vineyard up the hill from where I live and decided to run through the grape fields.  So while I didn’t necessarily do some real trail running; I consider it close enough to trail running.  The ground I was running on consisted of uneven car paths from where the farmers drive their vehicles through the vineyard.  I ran about a quarter mile through the vineyard.

Then on my return route home I went off the road into a cornfield.  I didn’t run very much in that field but it was nice to get off the road and run on a different surface.  With marathon and Dopey training being my priority from now until the end of the year I have to be careful if I am going to run off road.  I don’t want to hurt myself.  I wasn’t running in special trail shoes so I don’t have the necessary ankle support to run on such surfaces.  It was great to do something different and mix up the routine a little and run on a surface other than the hard pavement.

I’d like to make a goal to run in Tyler Mill near my house after I complete my Dopey challenge and don’t have to worry about avoiding any injuries prior to that big race weekend.  I also made it a point to start cross training during the week with weights.  My daughter always loved when I would go workout in our workout room.  Once she heard me say I was going downstairs to work out she ran to her room to find her favorite workout clothes so she could join me.  That night when she went to bed she kept asking me if I was going to work out again the next day because she enjoyed working out with me and spending girl time with me.  She’s so awesome!