Troy's Trails

The Frog Man

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Lebanon Hills

For a recent interview for UMTR, I was asked where my favorite trails are located.  It didn’t take long to come up with Lebanon Hills Regional Park as my favorite place for trail running. While there probably are more scenic and challenging trails in the state of Minnesota, none of them are as close to my house (less than 7 miles!) than Lebanon.  I also have a special place in my heart for this location as it they were the first trails I really started using on a regular basis.  Back in 2008 when I was training for my first marathon and had some legs issues, I was told to head out to the trails as they would strengthen my legs because of the uneven terrain. Some recent park renovations and miles and miles of trails is why I often find myself headed in that direction when going out for a run.  I usually drop in at Jensen Lake trailhead as it seems to not be as busy as some of the others, and……it’s the closest to my house.

Parking lot trees

My first ever trail marathon is finally in the books!  Here are some of the photo’s I took while I was logging 26.2 miles on some of the most beautiful trails I’ve been on. Truth be told, I did take some grief from fellow runners for stopping and taking some of these photo’s during the race, but I paid my race dues, drove the 8+ hours to Munising, Michigan (and was going to drive back after the race), and my training wasn’t the greatest going into this event, so it didn’t make the most sense to push it to the limits for this race. It was going to be a cross the finish line with a smile type of race, which is exactly how things went.

The first four pictures were taken before the race started. The next four are ones I took during the race.  A favorite is the one of Trout Bay (sandy beach).  It’s one of the most talked about portions of the marathon and it is truly one of those “you need to be there to truly appreciate it” types of places.  Reminded me of time spent on St. Thomas & British Virgin Islands during my honeymoon.  The hand crafted wooden finisher’s ‘medal’ was a nice green touch to an event that was very eco-friendly.  Cooling down in Lake Superior was not only a great way to end the race and start the recovery process, but it also provided a great atmosphere to socialize with other runners.  Time to start planning for trail marathon #2, and I’m open ears to suggestions!