Trail Run & The Going Man

Da Boss put out the alert, he was trail running at Burr Oak and all were welcome.  I forgot to post it here so if you missed the email blast, sorry about that.  I had been to the Wildcat Trail, north of Burr Oak many times but never gotten down to the park.  This helped explain why I was late, having gotten onto the wrong park entrance and ending up at the lake across from the lodge. Back tracking finally brought me to the lodge where I found the gang waiting, Craig, Andrew, friend of Craig & wife and....

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.....the man with the over active bladder, Mark C.  We headed out on a 3.1 mile loop and mostly hung together on a great day for trail running.  We were the first ones out on the trail that had about 3" of snow.  Mostly we stayed together on a not too difficult route that had only modest hills.  Arriving back at the cars, Craig produced a bag of cookies and we consumed what we had burned.  By the time I finished, I calculated a net gain in calories so far on the day.  Mark C mentioned frequently while running that he had to go and so while we ate, he made another bathroom run.  Monsters apparently run straight through his system.

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Then we headed out on a 3 mile run to a parking lot and with the return, would add another 3 for a total of 9 miles.  This route was rolling and not difficult but it followed the lake, along the hill side.  The path was narrow and our feet slid side ways frequently and a few of us took a fall. I avoided falling but did over cook a down hill corner and slammed into a tree, which kept me from tumbling into the lake.  We stopped mid way to regroup and while walking on a pier, scared this duck out from under its cover.  We reached the turnaround and ran back.  I began to fatigue and started walking but was shamed into restarting and so continued back to the trail head.  A little over 9 miles of trail running was enough for me but the others took another 3+ mile loop and they ended with 12.5 miles....that's almost a half marathon on slick paths up and down hills, jumping logs, sloshing through creeks, waiting for Mark to take a leak, etc...  Good workout.  My ankles are still sore from the beating.

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