Adventure running

This weekend I have been on a trail running adventure!! I found a new little runner friend, her name's Eliza & she took me trail running & to meet a real adventurer! 

With a car packed with cashews & almonds, bliss balls, spiced fruit bread & nut butter. More food to follow, the trail run first, mapped out by a great guy called Andrew, in the Yarra ranges. A 32k out & back course taking us deep down through the forest firstly on a grassy hill, then technical & tricky underfoot, jumping branches & the descent becoming pretty steep. It then flattened so I could slip into a comfortable pace & catch my breath & I became aware of the beauty of my environment. Surrounded by tall pines, leafy ferns, sunlight streams & the sounds of nature. Stunningness. 
We hit a road & ignoring the private property signs (naughty) we ran up a winding road to pass a secluded house but there were a big group of young men & there was a weird vibe, one of them told us to turn back, that it was private property, the others were oddly interested in us. So we ran back down the hill, wondering what all these (some semi naked) guys were up to? It was at the very bottom of the hill that we saw the sign for the 'drug rehabilitation' centre!! Guess the boys had been a bit naughty too! 
We returned to our forest trail & as the day got hotter, the hills we had ran down, we had to run back up & running got harder. I tried to take on the hills although it was tough, the terrain took my breath away, perhaps 2-3k of hard uphill, I power marched with cadence, I reached the top finally & the last 2k was a run down on the road track, I ran down pretty fast gaining momentum & I felt fabulous & that was our beautiful run done in 4 hours. We stretched in the sun, fuelled on fruit & nuts, had a lavender oil bucket wash at the side of the road & we were fresh & good to go...

The next chapter of our adventure weekend was to meet Beau Miles 'the adventurer' we had been invited through Eliza although she had never properly met him either, strange circumstances but turned out to be totally cool. I had not encountered Beau's admirable outdoor enthusiast achievements therefore had no preconceptions. But what an interesting man...
So Beau welcomed us with his campfire, home baked bread & pumpkin soup sipped whilst the sun dipped over the paddocks & rolling fields. Eliza had also made lemon pepper pita chips with homemade hummus, balsamic marinated olives & orange blossom cake. & Beau's hospitality was much appreciated & the campfire conversation was resplendent as the Pinot noir flowed freely. It was a fun, random evening with a few strangers from different backgrounds & lifestyles with the very common interest of running. What an amazing sport to create a connection between this quirky concoction of human beings.

Beau made a film of his amazing running adventure across the Australian Alpines, check out beaumilesfilm.com it's pretty inspiring stuff.....