Last year the Knoxville Track Club added a couple new trail races to their Treadin' Trodden Trail series. Of these races, one was in our own backyard, figuratively speaking. I remember having wanted to do the Dark Hollow Wallow last year, but I was in no way ready or in shape for it. Fast forward to the end of November and it dawned on me that the race was coming up again in February and if I was going to represent, I had better get on the ball with training.I had been running off and on since July of last year but now I was ready to commit and begin training. Besides I had been running on the roads and was ready for a change. I just had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that trail running would be so much better for me and way more adventurous. For three months, well almost three months, I was logging miles at least 3 days a week. Unfortunately, two of those days were on the roads as I was running those two days during the week and before work. Why roads at that time? Well it was too dark in the mornings so I opted for the safe route as I didn't have any experience running trails in the dark. Needless to say, I looked forward to my weekend long runs. I started out with 3 mile long runs and worked my self to about 7 miles as my longest run before race day got here. I wasn't sure going into it if it was enough, but nevertheless, I persevered and went with it.
