Friday Trail Run (Jeremy's Run)

This morning was the season opener Friday trail run. We chose Jeremy's Run, which is one of our personal favorites. Gary and I unofficially started this fun little ritual last summer. We pick a different trail to run each Friday morning and post it on Appalachian Outdoors Adventures' Facebook page. Consider this another open invitation to any and all who care to join us for a fun run through the woods. As always, dogs are welcome. This morning we had Athena, Lilly and Martha (our ever faithful trail dogs) along for the run. Our access point to the trail is off of Vaughn Summit Road in Rileyville. The trail parallels Jeremy's Run and eventually crosses it several times before intersecting with the Appalachian Trail. It has become routine for us to run in for about a half hour, pause for a quick break and turn around to head back out. The water level is still pretty high from the recent rainfall, so we made a couple calf-deep stream crossings. You can take our word for it that the water is cold. The good news is that once you hit the trail running again, your feet warm right up.........all the while making cool squishy sounds. There are a few nice climbs at the beginning of the trail to get the blood flowing and lungs opened up. It's usually at this point that I am glad I didn't over-dress for the occasion. Standing at the truck before the run with nothing but running shorts, a long sleeve base layer shirt and light vest when the air temperature is 39 degrees causes you to instinctively want to add more layers. A decision you always end up regretting as you start to ascend the rocky trail, inevitably heating up. Overall the trail seemed to be in decent condition, with only a few downed trees that need to be cleaned up. The photos I took were from my phone, so the quality is not the greatest. Next Friday we plan to run the trails in Shenandoah River State Park. Call the shop: 540-743-7400 or email us for directions to the trail head. "Thrive Outside"