Castlewood 10 miler (2012_05_28)

Castlewood has climbed (pun intended) its way to the top of my running list.  I absolutely love these trails, from the flat, soft sand covered stretches, the arduous climbs and the exhilarating drops over bramble, brush and boulder.  Now that I've at least run a section of every trail, I intend to refine my running route to offer a scale of distances and difficulties (new page maybe?).

Looking out of the window with disappointment at the miserable, wet weather, I've committed myself to uploaded some great St. Louis trail runs this morning to distract me from having to bike at the Y this afternoon instead of taking a long Mississippi River ride I was hoping for.

Last night we were blasted by some very severe weather, complete with tornado, golf ball (and larger) sized hail and flood-level downpour.  Here's a picture I took showing the size of the hail relative to a nickel:

That weather has passed but we are now left with the afterglow of periodic showers throughout the day.  Fortunately, I was able to sneak in a trip to Castlewood State Park before yesterday's storm and knock out a 6 miler through the trails with my dog.

The trail run was my first unorganized, true trail run.  There was no event, no pack of people to follow, I didn't even run it with a partner!  Compounding the ambiguity was the decision to not plan a route or even check a map - I.just.ran.  Having hiked and ran a few races through Castlewood in the past, I felt confident I wouldn't get lost and had a general idea of where I wanted to go.  The former held true, yet the latter proved far more capricious.  The first mile (and last) was marked by a full foot submersion trail crossing (much to the pooch's delight), and there were two major climbs that rewarding with a beautiful scenic view of the Meramec river.

All in all, a GREAT trail run.  I'm looking forward to bringing the wife with me now that I've worked out the kinks and have found a route with just the right mix trail (1 part climb, 2 parts flat, + some wet surprises)!  Check out the trail tab above to see the map and elevation diagram of the run!