It has been a while since me and my training buddy, June set foot on a trail and that was way back 2 months ago. After that last run, it had been a grueling two months of getting my mileage up to 70+ kms a week as i plan (hope) to run the QCIM in 6 weeks and frankly, all this pounding in hard surfaces was getting my feet, legs and thighs all aching and sore. So running on the trails like dirt, sand and grass offered a welcome respite.
We took advantage of the long week-end, so last Saturday, we traveled down to San Mateo, Rizal, particularly to the Timberland Heights trails. This isn’t the first time we were running these trail as we previously had ran the same trails during the inaugural All Terra King of the Mountain 10k Trail Race last June of this year.
However, for this run last Saturday, we purposely did not re-trace the same race route we did at that race but took alternate paths that criss-crossed wooded trails over rolling terrain on dirt and macadam roads, a river and a maze of ravines. Low lying fruit-bearing trees were abundant along the route that we were able to bend the branches a bit to reach for guava and santol fruits and these would sustain us for the duration of our run.
The weather was moderately cool, cloudy, maybe over 70 degrees but it had slightly rained the day before so the trails were a bit slippery. After parking near the clubhouse, we started our run.
A view of Metro Manila
Entrance of the trail
Of mists and mountains
Trail was muddy as it rained the night before
June follows my lead
Inside the western portion of the trail
Following the macadam trail
Slush and mud portions
Past the isolated church
Little barrier
Up to the wilderness
Threading through wild grass and bamboo
More of hiking the single track trail
Towards its inner sanctum
Climbing up the slippery trail
View of the trail upwards
June maneuvers on his way down
Enjoying the stream
Wish we had more time to dip our feet in the water
June takes a closer view of the stream
Strong currents
We had pickings of ripe guavas along the trails.
Small creatures like this one form part of the trails
Finding my way down
On our way back
Sign of our times
The softer part of the trails
Out of the woods
Exiting the Maarat side of Timberland Heights
The climb back
The craters of Maarat
To the top
The red wall
Up to the top
Back to the Timberland Heights Clubhouse
The 11k run took about 2 and a half hours which included a lot of walking, eating and just stopping on our tracks to savor nature. It was nice to be back on the trails!
sir rene! gawa tayo ulit ng trail LSD! hehehehe
Hi Tim! Yes, organize tayo minsan. Biglaan lang kasi itong mga takbo namin.:-)
wow sir rene !!! ganda !!!!
sana makarun din me dyan ! or group run tyo
very nice view !
tama c TIM LSD na sir RENE
Thanks, Mark. Sumama ka pag nagka trail run.
Very nice view,give you a break from running sa road. So , are you running the QC MARATHON?
If training continues to improve, might do so, Raffy.:-)
hi there!
I’ll be running on a trail, first ever marathon ko rin – 21 km. eto yung nakita ko na may pictures ng timberland trail, doon kme tatakbo. pero aabot daw ung 21 km sa may waterfalls part.. I am reading some of your post already.. 
Godspeed
Hi! Depende sa route nyo as there are shorter trails that you can run around Timberland!
Hope you enjoy the trails!:-)