Fun, Run and More Fun!

It's ALWAYS fun to be a River Runner. And this weekend didn't disappoint. Yesterday I made my way up to Rick's cabin, encountering the usual traffic standstill from the cities to Rogers. The whole trip took  hours. I stopped at the Clearwater truck stop/Nelson Bros. for a delicious turkey sandwich.

That's HALF a sandwich. I brought the other half home and ate it for supper. Delish. Then I made my way to Little Birch Lake and Rick's absolutely beautiful "cabin". This is no rustic cabin. It's got all the comforts of home and then some.

Nine of us stayed the night on Friday and enjoyed a beautiful sunset ride around the lake on the pontoon.

Soon enough it was time to find a spot to lay our heads (thank you Val and Joel for the comfy cot) so that we'd be well-rested for the run around the lake. Morning brought a large rain/thunderstorm cell moving through the area. A few brave souls (soles), namely Rick, Jay and Brad, weren't afraid of a little rain, wind, thunder and lightning and lifted off at 5:30 AM. The rest of us waited until closer to 8:00 for the bulk of the storm to pass, and the traditional Pat Ross Breakfast Run Photo.



It was still raining but several of us started out around the lake despite the weather. It's actually worse standing there thinking about running in the rain than actually doing it. We headed out around Little Birch Lake counterclockwise. I remember the course from running out there a couple of years ago. It's just beautiful.

Taken as I was leaving this afternoon

It wasn't long before the rain was joined by wind and eventually lightning. Mark K. and Curt K. were up ahead and Bob K. joined me at my pace. We're both recovering from injury but managed a very comfortable 9:00'ish pace despite the weather and very hilly course. It was nice having Bob to run with as I haven't spent that much time chatting with him. And most importantly, we stayed on course. That subject proved to be fodder for LOTS of laughter later in the day. At about 11 miles I was starting to tighten up (calves), cramp, and get tired. This was my longest run in a couple of months, and my third run in the last 3 1/2 weeks. I have some catching up to do. Anyway, we successfully traversed the 12.40 miles and got totally soaked in the process. But ... I enjoyed the run. I was so happy to be able to run that distance with no pain. Upon our return it was time to reload with lots of delicious carbs (steel cut oats, egg bake, fruit, sweets) and await the others that were still out running. Surprisingly, Bob and I were the first to return of the crew running around the whole lake. Linda came in a while later, and then a while later, Tim, but after about 3 hours we were still awaiting the speediest runners, Mark and Curt. Somewhere along the way, Rick got a call from a woman that lived on a farm about 3 miles from St. Rosa that she had two "lost runners" that belonged to us. They'd gotten some water, some "directions" and were sent on their way down a long flight of steps and into some woods. I don't remember the whole story, but they'd missed a turn and ended up somewhere near Big Birch Lake over toward St. Rosa. We had so many laughs ribbing them and hearing them recount their story. They were eventually rescued in the DNF Wagon by Pat and Donnie who'd initially driven by them and thrown some maps out the window telling them to find their way home. :-) You had to be there.

Jay, Kathy, Bob, Denny

But all's well that ends well and we all had fun. After some lunch I started for home, making much better time on the way home than the way up.

Thank you Rick for your wonderful hospitality and River Runners, it was great to catch up with some of you. I've got to try to get up there more often. They're a super group of friends. Luv u all!!

I'm pretty sleepy so it's off to slumberland .... Good night all.