I was looking forward to today's run for several reasons. One, I like trail runs (even if they kick my butt). Two, I like the adventure of running at a new place. Three, we were having a Pot Luck Brunch after the run! Winning!
We all met at Scott's house and ran Carbon Canyon/Chino Hills State Park. The early crowd met at 6:30am (please note I arrived at 6:25am), we were the 10 mile group. The later crowd was to arrive at 7am, and they were running 7 miles.
Scott led the way (well at my pace practically everyone leads the way). Since this was a new run for us, he had powdered chalk in hand and was to mark the route. I think he had a defective bottle of chalk...he ran out of chalk after like 3 or 4 arrows. At one point we saw the empty bottle on the ground pointing in the direction we were to go. Then the clues started to get a little cryptic. We began finding arrows on the ground made from sticks. Had Scott lured us to this new trail run with the promise of a pot luck (he must know we will do anything if there is the prospect of food at the end), or is he really trying to rope us into some kind of weird Blair Witch Project? (insert heavy breathing, snotty nose, and hand held camcorder).
Along the trail we saw SO MANY BUNNIES! I figured they must not have any predators, Helen said "They breed a lot". I'm so lame. Maybe some rouge bunnies or mountain lions are leaving the stick arrows on the path, trying to lure us into their little bunny dens or worse mountain lion dens where they will attack us. Damn wild bunnies!
Margaret had hung back with Missy, Helen, and I to chat. It's a good thing we had Margaret with us. Yes, Margaret the directionally challenged can't find her way around the block Margaret. She actually knew this trail! Unbelievable! She knew every turn and which way to go at each fork in the trail. I still can't believe we trusted her.
Now normally I would be secretly hoping Margaret would get tired of doing our short little run/walk intervals and sprint ahead of us, cause I always feel a little pressure to perform better when I'm running with her. (OK, I'll admit it, I feel like a slacker with her next to me). But not this time, well I did feel a little like a slacker, but that was easily remedied by the fact that I knew without her I was at the mercy of those beastly bunnies.
Three and a half miles into the run we come across a stick arrow pointing back into the direction we've come from. Huh? Those bunnies are so tricky. Maybe Margaret doesn't really know the way. Nah, she knows this trail by heart, that arrow is for the 7 mile group, that's their turn around arrow. Smart thinking Scott.
We ran another mile or so, crossed 3 little creeks (I was wondering what those bunnies were drinking), and then came to a larger creek, decided that was a good turn around point for us. Ran back to Scott's house for a total of 9.33 miles. Everyone removed their dirty shoes and washed the trail dust off their feet, and then we had an amazing brunch. Waffles, quiche, bacon, smoked samon, muffins, bagels, fruit, banana bread, mimosas, and so much more, what a treat, great way to start a weekend.
9.33 miles down, 940.23 to go.
Thing #19, Ran Carbon Canyon Trail Run.
No comments:
Post a Comment