Velká Baba Run

The title of this post, “Velká Baba Run”, can be translated in many ways. The Czech “Velká Baba” is, depending on the context, either a big old lady or a (slang) “big babe”. Velká Baba is also the name of a big hill close to my house.

Today’s run was not a loop, because I had to run to the rowing club to pick up my car. Yesterday night I was not legally fit to drive, so the car remained parked at the rowing club.

I put car keys, cell phone, rowing club keys in a little waist belt and took off. The climb of the “big babe” hill is quite steep.

After that climb it went downhill along the golf course and into the village of Jinačovice. After Jinačovice there is a nice part where you run through the fields.

Unfortunately, the best hiking trail marking system in the world turned out to have a weak spot at the right turn of the “red” trail. That, or I failed to see one of the markers.

Here is the part where I went straight (faint red line) instead of turning right with the red trail. I realized this pretty soon and had to consult the map on my phone. It was immediately clear to me that running back 100m and continuing on the red trail would have been the sensible thing to do, but that’s not how I am wired. I was running alone, so I was free to follow my twisted personality and try to run across the forest to pick up the red trail. That’s where you see my right turn. First, I ran across some wet and muddy fields. At a few points, I was afraid that my running shoe would stick to the mud, stay stuck, and I would find myself running on socks, but that didn’t happen, luckily.

The part through the forest was wild. There was no path, and it was uphill, so it was more hiking or climbing than running. I found back the red trail, but had to consult the map a few more times to determine the nicest way to run to the rowing club.

A nice 75 minutes of running/hiking.