Why you should plan ahead

During our Mohican weekend, on Saturday I decided that I should go out for my run on the trails at Mohican.  I am by no means a trail runner, but I do own trail shoes, which I had packed, and my training schedule did say 3-4 easy miles, and the kids were still sleeping… so I had no excuse.  By the time I finally dragged myself out of bed it was 7:45am.  I headed into the hills!

By the first mile a few thoughts were going through my head. 1) Oh wow, these hills were no joke!!  How can people run on these things?  I’m going to twist my ankle.  2) Wish I would have brought my phone with me to take a picture of them!  3) Whew, I’m tired.  I should have eaten some food this morning, and brought along some water!  Why haven’t I ordered that hydration belt yet??     Not to worry though, I wasn’t going too far into the woods.  Just a few miles and then turn around.  Here is a picture from Strava of me heading into the trails at Mohican. I’m the black circle.  Notice anything odd about this shot?

After about 1.5 miles I had another thought… uh oh, what is that stomping noise?  Sure enough, I looked back to see a man with a bib number coming up behind me, followed by a few more guys!  Yep, they are the rainbow of colors in this next shot!

I hopped off the trail, since it’s only big enough for one runner and asked him what event he was doing.  I thought maybe the 50 milers were REALLY fast and were back again.  ha!  He told me he was a marathon runner and there were 350 runners behind him!!  DOH!  I wasn’t able to verify what time the marathon was starting that morning because of the bad cell service.  The 100 milers started at 5am, the 50 milers at 6 am – so wouldn’t it make sense that the marathoners started at 7am?  Nope. Start time was 8am.

I ran with them for a little bit, but then had to turn back around and step aside while the entire group of marathoners came past.  I got several high fives, “good mornings”, “hey, am I going the wrong way, or are you?” comments and a lot of surprised looks.  Yes, I was the idiot going the wrong way on a trail during the marathon!!

This just goes to show you, it pays to plan ahead!!

For all that wondered – Alan is feeling a bit improved from Monday.  Monday he felt like he was hit by a truck.  Today (Tuesday), a little less sore, but still not up to speed.  His feet are a bit red and swollen and he’s just painful all over.  Hopefully each day will be exponentially better and in a few days he’ll be feeling more like his old self again – instead of just like an old person! 🙂

Also: Could you please vote for my cat?  My daughter submitted a few pictures of our cats to the Page a Day cat calendar and Zoe is in a contest this week.  Vote here.  Sydney said they didn’t even pick the best picture of her!  But still, we’d love to see our cat in the calendar.  Thanks!

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Q:  Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a race course when you were out for a run?

This is the 3rd time it has happened to me.  It’s actually a bit of a high feeling like a rebel doing your own thing while everyone else is huffing and puffing!  And when the course marshal tells you that you took the wrong turn and you just go trotting away! 🙂

Q:  Do you consider yourself a trail runner?