Who Put that Branch There?

Yesterday I did a few slow recovery miles by myself at Bull Creek. My legs felt OK but I had some painful heel blisters I'd picked up at the Trail Twister. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful morning as I climbed up to the scenic overlook and I took some time to just sit there for a while watching the world go by - it was very restful.

So tonight I guided my Silicon Lab relay teammates around Ken's. I experimented with taping up the blisters and I must have done a good job because I didn't notice them during the run. I'd planned on taking it easy, but we ended up hitting it hard. As we were tearing around the switchbacks, I heard a meaty thud and a yell from behind. I looked round and James (my fellow Brit) was on the ground with blood streaming from his head. It turns out that he didn't see a tree branch and ran smack into it at full speed. Bill was behind him and saw it all - he gave him 10 points for the fall and a bonus for drawing blood. Luckily he also had a bandanna to help stem the flow.

Once we were all sure that James was alright, the jokes came out. From the standard "congratulations, you're not a novice trail runner anymore" to "there's part of a foreign trail that is forever England". He was a bit unsteady on his feet so we backtracked the switchbacks, walked straight down snot rocks and took the left turn at the bottom to shoot off the trail and into some company's parking lot. We walked alongside 360 for a while until we got back onto the flats that took us back to the dogpark.

They all said they wanted to come back next week for another crack at it, though I think next time we do the switchbacks I'll stand by that branch and shout "DUCK".