Who Said I Had to Run?

Apparently, today was World Run Day. I kept seeing it being tweeted on Twitter in the last couple of days but never really looked into it. All I knew was that in my circle of friends, someone was out there running at any given day and time.

This weekend was kind of up and down for me. As I type this, I am now fighting a headache that I have had since waking up yesterday. The pain comes and go but there are times when it can be really intense. Although I was planning to run yesterday, it did not happen because I had to take my car into the shop for new brakes. I was going to run this morning but the headache prevented me from venturing out too early.

A realisation hit me when I was doing some chores around the house - I do not have to run, I can easily hike it out. With that being said, I quickly wrapped up the chores I was doing and headed out towards Caledon Hills to hike my favourite section which takes me into the Forks of the Credit Provincial Park.

Upon arriving, I greeted some of the hikers who were finishing up and returning to the parking area. All agreed that the conditions were excellent and that the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I quickly grabbed my water bottle, a Larabar, and my camera before setting off.

Getting ready to set off...

I was moving at quite a good clip. I even picked it up and ran a few of the sections when the mood struck. The sweater I was wearing was a tad warm but I stuck with it because I knew that once the sun started to go down, I would start to feel cool. I felt so great being out there. The headache did remain at bay for a bit after threatening to shorten the hike in the beginning. There were lots of families out hiking in the park and taking advantage of the wonderful weather we had.

Even this cat was basking in the sun as he was walking down the road

An old ruin that was up the hill from the trail at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park

All about the Niagara Escarpment...

Waterfalls at the Forks of the Credit - Where the Credit River originates from

Enjoying the view before making my way through the loop

After looping through the park and zipping down a 480m side trail, I made my way back to the car. Now here is something that I witnessed that really had me ticked...

As I was making my way uphill, I approached the railway tracks that had to be crossed to continue on the trail. I came upon a group of boy scouts with their leaders on the trail by the tracks. They all appeared to be resting by the tracks. One of the boys greeted me and asked me just how steep the hill was. I explained that it would take a bit of work to go up or down the hill. There were a couple boys who were laying down across the tracks and their bags were scattered there as well. I was in total disbelief! The tracks are live tracks that see regular train traffic. I took a look at them and said to the leader on the other side that the train will come a lot faster than those boys can get up. She kind of had this resigned look and said "I know..." She didn't make too much of an effort to get them off the tracks so I yelled at the boys...

"THE TRAIN COMES A LOT FASTER THAN YOU CAN GET UP AND OFF THE TRACKS! WHEN YOU HEAR THE TRAIN, IT IS A LOT CLOSER THAN YOU THINK!"

The leaders then made their move and got the boys to clear the tracks. Now... Why did it take someone else to come and yell at them for any action to be taken? This is what bothered me. Being friends with some of the train crew from the GO Trains who work for the rail road and have done freight runs, I have gained a lot more respect for the rail road - especially after hearing the stories of mishaps that could have easily been prevented. I really hope those boys learned something from me yelling, and that the leaders will be more diligent about hazards like this when taking the young charge on outings like this. The other concern to keep in mind, which I did not say, is that much of the trail runs on private land, including the rail road. If a landowner chooses not to permit traffic across the land due to behaviour like this, the Bruce Trail Association will have to work to reroute the trail. This happened at Webster's Falls in Hamilton - CN Rail decided to terminate permission for the Bruce Trail to run along the tracks in that area, severing a great piece of the trail from the rest of the Bruce Trail as the trail was rerouted in such a way that the conservation area could not be included.

After walking off, I quickly finished off the hike and returned to my car. It actually started getting dark just as I was finishing up. I really felt good for being out there, in spite of the fact that I had to keep this headache in check. I was even able to run an errand before getting home afterwards.

Finishing the hike the way it began...