As promised, this was an easy run, out to the dam and back. On the way out we hit the twirly bird and then at the dam we did a few hill sprints. I think it was 4, one for each serving we'd be piling onto our plate later that day. During the last uphill, Bill S. reminded me that it was his 1-year anniversary since he had started running with the group and the same was true for Tom P. As a gift to them, I had them do one extra hill sprint by themselves while the rest of us watched. Then it was back to the parking lot. As we came out of the woods near the twirly bird, one of us...who I really don't want to call out here so let's just say his name started with "T" and ended with "Peroni" was falling a little bit behind the pack so the rest of dropped and did push ups till he caught up. After about 400 push ups he was right there with us -- I'm kidding it was more like 20-25 (or 10 for Phil...that's right I saw you Phil!)
Once we were all back together again, we headed down towards the foot bridge and I had all intentions of keeping it light until I saw a bunch of picnic tables placed end to end and noticed how perfect the benches lined up providing us a chance to get in some squat jumps. Hmmm...what would Nate do? Line 'em up!
After about 10 quick squat jumps it was back to the run, over the bridge, up the stairs at the boat house then past the playground to the gravel hill where we turned a right and pushed uphill. Left at the top of the hill we hopped on the bike path briefly before I told the lead pack to head left back into the trails while I hung back to make sure everyone made the turn in. As the others made their way up the hill I told them to stick to the bike path and planned on meeting up with them at the tennis courts. As I waited for the last few runners I noticed that the group I sent into the trails had taken a wrong turn -- actually I think I led them astray with my directions -- and ended up right back out on the bike path just a few hundred feet up ahead.
When the last runner passed and everyone was together on the bike path, I decided to duck into the trails myself and try to catch up with the first group. I planned on cutting them off as I exited the trails at the end near the bridge just before the parking lot. I was running as hard as I could to try and catch them, over the roots, through the mud, and I even tried to take the most direct route I could. It wasn't enough though because as I exited the trails I came out right in front of the first runner I had seen after splitting from the lead pack back at the top of the gravel hill. As I continued to push it on the bike path I saw the pack turning the corner just ahead of me but I had nothing left. I was not going to catch them. Oh well. I was still thankful for the opportunity to try. It was fun to run all out on the trails for a bit.
When we arrived back at the parking lot everyone looked like they had a good run and were ready to go stuff their faces. I know I was. Before we left we took a moment for a picture with the donations bin, which was literally overflowing. At some point this week, I'll be heading into Trenton to drop everything off at the soup kitchen where I know it will all be put to good use.
Roll Call: Bill S., Bill Y., Brian, Butch, Carlah, Erin, Frank, Jess, Karen, Linda, Lisa, Phil, Theresa, Tom P., Yasi
L to R: (standing) Frank, Yasi, Theresa, Bill S., Lisa, Karen, Bill Y., Brian, Butch, Erin, Tom P., Phil(kneeling) Linda, Carlah, Jess
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