On August 5th, I completed a 24-mile trail run in the Cedar Hill State Park. The plan was to complete the 36K of the Blazin Summer Sufferfest on August 3rd. Unfortunately, it was postponed and subsequently rescheduled to August 10th. August 10th did not work with my schedule. So at 6 AM on August 5th, Monday morning I sat scared in my truck, in the dark, at the beginning of the DORBA trail.
Getting to the trail on Monday morning was the first “mini-seminar”(see post) Getting out of the truck was another “mini-seminar”. The real test came at mile 22 when my app told me I was done and the trail in front of me told me I was not.
Getting out of the Truck.
The park opened officially at 6 AM. In Texas at 6 AM in the summer time, it is hot. There is no break from the heat. The temperature goes from less hot, to hot, to on-fire. So, initially my primary concern was finishing before noon. Because at noon temperatures would be at hundred degrees. So, I arrived at the park around 545 AM.
Unfortunately, I had not accounted for my fear of the dark and things that go bump in the night. The cones where already moved when I arrived at the gate. This indicates that the park was open. However, there was no one standing in the booth…not one soul. And my overactive imagination immediately begin conjuring images of body snatchers.
I proceeded cautiously through the gate with the hope that I’d see someone before I made it to the trail. The winding trail got darker as I drove. And when I finally parked I still hadn’t seen one soul. The quiet that usually soothed me in the mornings, now seemed eerie and ominous.
The plan was to park as close to the trail head as possible. This would allow a quick transition when I finished the first loop. As close as possible, meant that I was really close to trees and brush and whatever else was hiding in the dark. So, I parked 100 yds or so away from the start of the trail. I don’t know why the open space seemed like a better idea.
When I turned off the truck, the silence was more deafening. So, there I sat watching the tree lines for movement, listening for rustling in the trees, wondering if this was me being stubborn or me being faithful and obedient. The what-ifs plagued me. What if someone was hiding in the woods and grabbed me? What if I hurt myself and there was nobody to find me? What if I got bit by a poisonous snake? What if my phone didn’t work? What-if?…and then it was all the people that I told about me doing this and my reputation and my view of my self. Ugh! all the things!
This wasn’t the seminar that I had signed up for and it was a seminar none the less. So, I pulled out my camera and begin verbal processing. After putting a voice to my camera, the question was clear “Did I believe that it was a GOD assignment?” Because if I did, then I was more safe on the dark trail alone, than I was in the truck. And I wholeheartedly believed it was a God assignment. So, I got out the truck.
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