• Two miles
  morning one-mile round-tripper takin’ GS to school.
  Afternoon: same but somewhat faster pace
  when I got a late start <<<(ed note: "almost forgot” ) >>>
  but slowed down on way home by nine wooly bears¹
  .
  Hey Tom, no better fish than catchin’ and eatin’ ‘em yourself.

¹⁾ wooly bear moth caterpillars, that is.

I'm thankful for any post that has Enke and MBE in it.

Welcome Lori!!!!! I named my hill "KongZilla"

Norm!!!!

I had a nice little half over the weekend. It was my fourth year of running it. It's one of the toughest trail races in the state. It may be #1. The quiet section of the Huron-Manistee forest  rocks for two days and a nice chunk of saturday night. 100 or so of us camped in a private field 1 mile away from the start.

The 50 mile ultra starts at 6:15 and I hiked with my coffee to cheer some friends on at the start of their race. Then lightning struck. Not too close, but close enough to delay the start by half an hour. I took the opportunity to reintroduce myself to a local broadcast personality. A couple of years ago, one of our neighbors was having a very rough time and this fella encouraged a few businesses to step up. the man's personal story  is remarkable. While sharing experience, strength and hope, the weather cut loose again prompting another delay. I sought other shelter so some of the volunteers could stay dry.

Dick Beardsley was entered into the half, however, was experiencing back pain and was considering a DNS. As the starts were delayed by each lightning strike, he had time to stretch it out. I told him that, if there were anything I could do to facilitate his stretching, let me know. Once on the course, he wasn't alone. During one of the breaks in the weather, he offered up an anecdote about his first Grandma's Marathon.  At 7:30 ish the ultra started. At 7:55 the marathon began. I was in the 2nd wave of the half and didn't get going until nearly 9:00 AM. The first couple of mile was the thinning of the herd and I usually whoop and dance.

About 1/4 of the way through, A lady asked if I'd pace her so she could hear me sing for the race. I asked if she could imagine what my poor DW has to put up with listening to that nonsense all the time. The only thing about trail running that I don't like it, you have to be aware of every step you take. Between miles 5 and 6, I was just amazed at the beauty and "crunch". A damn root reached out and grabbed my big toe. Run it off?? Nope. Walk it off?? Nope. Run through it?? Ah hell no.

So I waddled up the hills and then tied different things down the hills. I settled on walking backwards down the hills. I considered bailing at the aid stations on mile 9 (Storms rolled back in)and 11. Thankfully, I'm not that smart. I would trot on the straight aways enjoying the cool rain and lightning. I won't start in a storm, but it's a blast getting caught in it. Ding dong me, I kept being concerned as to how it was going to affect work. After the last downhill at the last 1/2 mile I hear DW!! She's there with Avenger Doggie. He pulled away and galloped full bore to his old man.It was only 1/2 a mile and my muscles were fine. The second I grabbed his leash, he dragged me to and through the finish line.

Actually, here's a better picture