Uphill Both Ways

This week we returned to Clayton for the second week in a row and I sure was happy to have Nate back with the group. Since I worked until about 2:30AM on Friday night and got at best 3 hours of sleep before getting up to go meet the group I struggled to think how I was going to keep up with everyone, let alone lead the way through the trails at Clayton. With Nate there to lead the way I knew I could sit back and take it easy...then we got started and I realized, oh crap, Nate was going to be leading us! Maybe it had been that long, or maybe I was just still half asleep, but clearly Nate leading us was going to make things tough. And tough it was.

We headed out the back from the parking lot towards the soybean fields then turned in to the right and headed up hill. At the split at the top of the first hill we made a left. It's been a long time since I made the left at the split and oh what a hill...it seemed to never end. Eventually, though we reached the top and took another left and headed out towards Doctor's Trail. After we ran up "the hill", we took another left and then headed straight across the four way intersection into the extra loop. Once out of the extra loop we headed left (note to self: if ever I get lost in Clayton...make a left) then went down, up, down, and swung all the way around before coming back to the top of "the hill". Down we went and then made a right and headed back the way we came until reaching the soybean field. There we made a left and then headed uphill and took a right this time at the split (thank you Jesus!) and headed uphill one last time before kicking it into the parking lot.

All in all, it was a great run and I was actually surprised at how strong I felt given the lack of sleep I got the night before. Everyone else did a great job too. Even with all those extra push-ups Nate decided to throw in at random points along the trail. Special kudos to Carlah for coming back out this week. Usually, when someone comes out to run with us for the first time at Clayton it's a while before we see them again. Carlah came right back though and hung tough the whole way. Way to go girl!

You'll notice there is no pic this week because both of our group photographers were absent. Linda was busy partying it up with the girls in LBI and Bill S. was celebrating his birthday with family in Wildwoood. Happy belated birthday Bill!

Roll call: Bill Y., Butch, Carlah, Fred, Jess, Lisa, Mariana (yes, Mariana actually showed up!), Nate, Sue