The Mediocre Trail friends got out a couple times this week. Our usual Thursday run was in Piedmont. Everywhere we go feels fun, and also feels like we haven’t been there in a long time. We hung out in the parking lot before, and talked about our plans to eat cheesecake to celebrate Nate’s birthday on the weekend.
I spent a lot of the run conversing about my excitement for my first Ragnar coming up the next day. Given that I was probably 12 hours away from starting my drive, it occupied a lot of my thoughts during the run. Ethen and Kelley were here and we got to talk about them volunteering for it.
Near the end of the Run, Ethan and Matt took a weird turn, and I started to follow. I was quickly told it was the wrong way, but I wanted to follow them anyway. I didn’t go far before I turned around and saw my friends had waited, apparently confident we were all going the wrong way.
When we got back to the parking lot, Matt and Ethan were still missing, apparently dedicated to the path they had taken (and I was glad I was convinced to abandon.) We started the snacks without them. Kelley baked some delicious cookies, which also included gluten-free versions to accommodate dietary restrictions. Lonna brought beverages, which were very welcome after such a hot run. I brought fruit again. I think Kelsey brought snacks too.
After a reasonable while hanging out, some trail maintenance volunteers were headed to their vehicles, and we invited them to grab a beverage and snacks. They seemed very grateful, it was apparently very thirsty work. We made some brief conversation and they educated us on trail maintenance. After they left, and another while later, Ethan and Matt finally rejoined the group and we all hung out for a bit again.
We talked about probably just bringing beverages and snacks and hanging out in the parking areas after. At least during the summer doing that. Some people don’t want to go out after, and separate from the group during our transition to wherever we do afters. During the winter, we probably go back to driving somewhere and hanging out inside.
Sunday brought a group run. We planned 14 miles. Ended up somewhere around 13.5, followed by 2 quarter mile walks to and from Deb’s house to make it 14, even if Strava doesn’t show it.
Someone had stashed a cooler about 4-5 miles in, we hit it again on the way back, so we got to break the run into 3 segments.
We passed a point of interest, that was a free stick library for dogs. It was on a brief road section we used to jump from one trail to another. We started at Hartley, but hit a bunch of stuff. We got to go through what Nate the birthday boy said was his favorite section of trail. And got to go through some trail that was very not maintained, and Nate explained that at some point they even put logs across to discourage people from using it. Fun to try something different.
The group had found several spots with berries growing along the way, and were more than happy to eat them as they found them.
A lot of my conversation during this was centered around my recent Ragnar race that ended the day before. My favorite story to tell was “getting served” by a cheerleader I ended up in a cheer off against. They were very obviously and experienced cheerleader with rehearsed cheers and practiced stunts, and I stood no chance.
I was still fatigued to a degree, and was pretty much spent about 12 miles in. After some rest hanging out on an overlook we pressed on to the finish. A tree was laying across the path, apparently felled by a beaver.
After the run we trekked to Deb’s house. Deb had made a traditional New York style cheesecake, and Lonna had prepared a key lime cheesecake. And the group feasted on the deliciousness. We hung out a bit, but not super long. It was fun to celebrate a group member’s birthday.
Perhaps long run birthday celebrations could be a new group tradition? I can only hope. See you all next time 🙂
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