Way too much fun for a human (and a dog) to have!

Sunday after coaching two basketball games with Hannie's team (we lost both but I digress), I decided to take Belle and hit Gilbert State Forest.  It had rained like hell Friday night and all day Saturday, but it was sunny and breezy on Sunday so I figured I was going to run into some decent mud patches, but boy was I wrong.

RUNNING is just not supposed to be this much fun.

We start off running up the Heart Healthy Trail, which is fairly hilly and rocky, and came across some small mud patches.  So far - right to plan.  Come down the hill, take the right, come across some really good mud patches, even better.  Cross the Mill St corner, go straight ahead, merge back into the forest; again some small mud but nothing too big.  So now I am thinking this is cool, a few small mud patches, one or two mucky wet patches; no biggie.
WRONG!  I now head off to my favorite trail and quickly found out why the majority of the trail is "softball-sized" rocks embedded in mud.  I guess during an substantial rain, this trail turns into a small river.  How Freakin' cool is this?!?!  We go down this for awhile take the left at the split, so we can stay in the forest, the river ends but the mud sure doesn't.  The reason I love this trail is in the late summer and early fall, it feels like you are running the Pacific Northwest.  It's semi-dark, very plush vegitation with rocks, moss and water here and there.  But after a rain, it ROCKS!  Seems like everytime you turn a corner you run into a nice mud/water bath, a river or a place to just get nice and dirty.
Can't remember the last time I had so much fun running.  The pace wasn't great, but who the hell cares; neither Belle nor I did. 
Now if I just hit the lottery and didn't have to work I could run it everyday.  But until then, roads during the week and the trails on the weekends.
Be well - Sank