Batona Trail

Well it has been awhile since I got out and ran. I decided to just completely rest my injured Achilles all week, rather than bike. The weather wasn't terrible this week, but it was windy, so I passed on cycling.

I've been reading a lot about trails lately. Instead of hitting the hard roads, I decided to head out for some trail running. I wanted a soft trail and also a flat one. Therefore, I headed about 40 miles east into the New Jersey pine barrens and ran on the Batona Trail.

It is nearly a 50 mile trail through the pine barrens. The parking lot was still covered in snow and the dirt road into the trail was rough. I don't think I actually found the trail itself. I believe it has white blazes. I saw those with a hiking sign, but I never did see the main trail head. I did pick up a map where the trail head is supposed to be. That wasn't a help though.

A guy with a 4 wheel drive wished me good luck when I started. I was wondering what he was driving around for. I started off south down a dirt road. I then found and trail and started running through it. My GPS didn't get a signal, so I ran without it.

I quickly found out that this section has many trails in it, so it could be easy to get lost. I turned a couple times, but tried to mostly stay in a straight path. I didn't have my cell phone on me, so I wanted to stay safe.

The trails themselves were a blast. Most of the soil is the typical sandy type found in New Jersey. Since it is somewhat wet still, it makes for good running in most sections. There are also a lot of sections that are covered in pine needles. It looked neat and was a refreshing change from the boring city loops.

There were just so many challenges on the trail. Some sections still had snow. There were a lot of areas where trees had fallen onto to the path. I often had to leap over them, run under them or go around them. It made for a fun obstacle course.

One nice thing is that there are a lot of dirt roads running through the forest. Even if I got lost, I'd eventually come to one and it could help me find my way to a main road. After running through the trails for awhile, I came to a paved road. I'm still not actually sure what it was. I crossed it and stayed straight on the trail for most of the remainder of the run.

Since I haven't run in awhile, I started to tire out. After 30 minutes, I elected to turn around. I didn't have too much trouble following my path back. It was helpful that I had made footprints in the snow.

Eventually, I lost track though. Thanks to the sun, I still had a good idea which direction I was heading. I just kept heading west. I came out to one of the dirt roads. I then found one that lead to the highway. I thought it was the road the I parked on.

It turns out, it was south of that. I ran north, hoping I was going the right direction. I came across another runner. He was the only guy that I saw the whole time. It turned out that it was the guy who was driving around earlier.

I turned up the road and found my car. I ended up finishing in around an hour after the short detour. I talked to the guy for quite awhile. He is big into orienteering. That is a way to navigate through the woods to find different markers. Sounds like fun, but I would get lost. I was just glad that didn't happen today.

My Achilles held up fairly well. Towards the end of the run, it felt sore at times. That mostly happened when I pushed off on the uneven footing. I'm now using the foam roller to work the tension out of there.

I actually work at 8 hour shift tomorrow. I'm not sure if I am going to rest or get out and run or bike. Rest might be the best option. I am off Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, I'd like to do some more trail running. Tuesday, I'm going to run with the run club. I really hope my Achilles can hold up for a couple weeks. I'd at least like to get through the half marathon.

Today was a blast and the hour seemed to end quickly. I'm definitely going to incorporate more trail running into my training. It is certainly a good change up from the rigors of road running. Every step is different and interesting. I just wish I had more trails around here to run on. Most of them aren't very long.