Someplace Beautiful

Lately I have been longing for someplace new and beautiful to run.  Huntsville provides plenty of places that are scenic and lovely, but sometimes I want a brand new place I've never seen where I can run and admire all that is around me.

This weekend Fall Creek Falls State Park offered just such a place.  Jason and I drove to the cabin where we would be staying Friday night.  The place was absolutely precious, clean and cozy (hence the name Cozy Cabins and Cottages).  It was 5 miles from the entrance of Fall Creek Falls State Park and that was perfect for us.

Saturday morning I had planned to run 15-20 miles, but since I slept in until 7:00, I only got in 10.  They were 10 good ones, however.  We ran down the Archie Rinehart Parkway, which leads into the park.  My first three miles felt slow and laborious, but once I got warmed up, I felt good and began to run a bit faster, achieving negative splits to the end.  Jason joined me for my last 4.  He would run ahead and then circle back to run with me and repeat.  There was mostly shade for us until the sun got too high above the trees.  The air was clean and fresh and seemed a bit cooler than the temps of the mornings in Huntsville. 

After the run, I took a shower and made coffee in our cute little cabin kitchen.  We relaxed for a bit before heading out to explore the park.  It was a warm afternoon, but again, most everything we did was in the shade.  This helped until the hike back up from the falls themselves. I was drenched in sweat once again and wondered why I'd bothered showering in the first place.

The falls and everything around them were gorgeous.  I made fun of one informational post which said one of the falls was like a "silver stream running through a green velvet pillow."  Jason said I couldn't make fun because I write like that too.  I said I did not.  He said I was flowery.  Am I flowery?  I think I am more funny-descriptive than flowery.  But I guess I can be flowery too.  I suppose it is hard not to be when in such surroundings as Fall Creek Falls.

Either way, the weekend provided exactly what I had been longing to see.  During a portion of the run at the end of the triathlon on Sunday, I was alone and running along the lake.  I took the opportunity to tell the Creator just how much I loved what He had made and how grateful I was to be out in it.  Running.