The Green Belt

Wednesday night I meet a group of Team Traverse peeps in Austin to do a hilly trail run. Why I was in Austin on Wednesday is another story. But it ends with "Yeah! We have renters!"
Back to the run.
We were supposed to meet at the HOL at 6:00pm. I left Seattle's Best at 5pm thinking I could get a few miles in before the other guy's showed up. But I hadn't counted on the traffic I hit on I-35. While I was sitting In traffic, I dug my trail shoes out of my bag and discovered I had brought two left shoes. Darn. Luckily I had some LaSpoertiva's in the trunk. I had been wanting to try them out. Guess I would get to tonight.I didn't get there until a little past 6, and everyone had gone except for Joe.
Joe waited for me to park and we ran down the HOL together. Then he told me to head up a certain trail intersection and take all lefts. The others went the other way and were taking rights, so I would meet them somewhere on the trails. After about 1.75miles I ran into Pete and Josue. Turning around, I followed them back to the intersection.
On the second loop, I rolled my ankle pretty bad on a steep rocky section. I told Josue I was going to slow down. I just didn't feel safe running a bit hard in the shoes I had on. I figured I would keep taking the appropriate turns and hit the intersection again soon. After a few miles had gone buy, I realized I was running loops and not hitting the right intersection. I decided to go out on a limb and take a new turn. I had run just under 8 miles at this point and I knew I needed to get back soon- the sun was setting. Somewhere around 9.5miles, I felt a panic rising inside. The sunlight was just about gone, I had reached the top of a hill, and I hadn't a clue where I was. There was a stone wall to my left and a beautiful view of a highway below to my right. I figured my best bet was to run down this hill. Keeping the wall to my left, I ran down the trail as hard as I could. After a short while I hit another intersection. There was a fence straight ahead. First, I turned right. Then I changed my mind and turned back the other way. I looked at my GPS and saw I had now been running for 1hr 30minutes. Less then a minute later I hit another fence. There was no way to go but the way I had come from. I ran with the fence to my left. The sun light was gone, but I was running hard down hill. I figured (hoped) I would hit the creek or a neighbor hood and find safety. But I was scared. Crazy people have been reported in this place. Weird things happen here. And this was only my second time running here. I hadn't a clue where I really was. Soon I saw a light in front of me. I called out, and Pete answered. Boy was I relieved! I didn't think the guys would leave me, but I didn't expect to be found either. Pete seemed as relived as I felt. He said Joe and the other guys where looking for me, too. I followed Pete down the trail for a little while until we ran into TJ. Then TJ and I headed to the bottom of the HOL while Pete went back out to find Josue, Joe, and Larry. I think Pete must have found me about 40minutes before the other guys came back.
I have to say I felt quite cared for. I figured Joe would wait for me, maybe go look for me, but I never expected the other guys to join in. And I greatly appreciate their concern. Afterward we all hung out at Joe's truck, had Beer and water, and took a couple of pictures. I think it turned out to be a good experience. I learned that I will not run alone in the Green Belt until I know that place better. And I learned that I have very caring teammates. I feel so blessed to be a part of this Team. We are all just getting to know each other and I am liking everyone more and more. If any of you guys read this, THANK YOU!