A New Trail and a Rock

I headed back to the Cathance River Nature Preserve today with the intention of exploring the Ravine Trail. It's a bit further out in the system, and requires a fair amount of running on the dirt roads to get there. The good news is that one of the roads that leads to the trail is more like a trail itself. Good running. The Ravine Trail is a U that connects to the "road" on either end. It's a fairly mellow single track trail that follows along a ravine for about half of its mile length. The section of that road between the two ends of the "U" was fairly overgrown with grass, so a thorough tick check was in order when I got home. (None found.) At the furthest end of the "U" the road continues and there's another road junction there as well. More trails to explore. Overall, the run was good. Basically, an out and back that I'm going to call 5.5 miles. Not bad.

Everything felt pretty good while I was running. My calves felt fine. Some slight tightness in my right calf, but barely noticeable. But here's the thing, I now have a rock in my right calf. As the day went on, it just kept getting tighter and tighter. I've been stretching, heating and icing trying to keep it lose, but it's fairly grouchy. Hopefully, I can work it out. Here's the strange thing: it's not the place that felt tight after my race on Saturday, and it's not the place that I hurt at the end of March. It's a new lump. That being said, it doesn't feel like an injury. Just like a rock. Really odd. Oh yeah, my left calf is fine. So, as D often says to me: "You're a mess." Yup.