I did my 2 laps around Hinckley Lake in 47.5 minutes, and then the rest of the gang (Rita, George, Bob, Tom, Greg, Dan) showed up. Dan, Greg and I did the trails for about another 6 in 55 minutes. Nice icy morning. Nice hills. Nice scenery. Nice run.
Afterwards Debbie joined us at DoubleSides. Not bad food and decent prices. We talked a lot about Maui - including Rita's job interview there and ours and their trips. With that and reading the book, Maui Revealed, I'm excited about going. It'll help that I've got work the prior week.
Here is Rita's perspective for the day:
Dear neodeads,
It was a fun and well-attended encounter this morning.
Thanks to Dan Horvath of the Fuchsia Sporthills for
organizing it.
George and I pulled into the lot to find Greg Dykes and
Bob Hart waiting there. Dan H was already on the
road/trail, where he had run for an hour before meeting
the rest of us. Dan Fox arrived in his immaculate big
white truck and we departed. The parking lot was a
bit slippery, so I put on my YakTrax for their first outing
this winter. Several of us wore shorts.
As we started down the trail, Dr. Tom drove past in his
car, so we looped back to the lot to meet him. He wore
shorts also.
Our larger group broke into smaller clusters as we ran.
I ran with Dr. Tom for most of the run. George and
Bob were with us for the first loop, and they seemed
to enjoy their discussion of witchcraft. The Dans
must have pressed on ahead. I don't know which
group had Greg Dykes in it.
Running with Tom, I eventually realized our groups had
spread out so much that we could neither hear nor
see any of the others. I hoped Tom knew where we
were going. I'd been relying on Dan Horvath for directions.
Tom said he knew where we were, and his word was
good, so eventually we got back to the parking lot.
We ran for about an hour. Two loops I guess.
I was completely disoriented, just keeping pace
with Tom, who seemed to know our orientation
at all times. Thank heavens, if I'd been alone, I'd
probably still be out there, circling blindly somewhere.
All I need to know is which way is north and where the
lake is, and I'm good, but both bearing points were lost
on me today, and I felt lost. But I saw blue blazes so
I know i was on the Buckeye Trail for awhile.
Back at the lot, the people who brought their
freaking mugs :) enjoyed hot coffee with Bailey's.
We toasted the running gods and took some photos
(one in the next email.)
We ate the World's Hardest Butter Cookies, made
by yours truly at around 11 pm last night, and some
much more palatable Fig Newtons provided by
Greg Dykes.
Tom left us to drive to Pittsburgh, and the rest of us
reconvened at DoubleSides, where Debbie Horvath joined
us in a cozy U-shaped booth. [We talked about hawaii
a lot.] Boca Burger is the first burger listed on the
lunch menu, winning Dan Fox's praise. Oatmeal listed
on the menu pleased me. It's not Ari's---George and I
paid $11 for two breakfasts---but it's a bit more civilized
and not as smoky. I can't say much for the coffee,
but that's true at Ari's also.
We talked about ultras (go figure) and running with dogs.
We noted how lucky Greg Dykes is that he can just
pick up his chihuahua and carry him when the little
dog gets too tired to run anymore. This is after about
1/4 mile, Greg said. We talked about Bob Hart's next
home, wherever it will be. We pondered the whereabouts
of Joe Novicky, who has fallen silent on the list lately,
and discussed which fall marathons might be nice for
Bob Hart and Dan Fox. When asked, Dan Horvath gave
us his stats from the Tahoe Triple, but he reported only
his finishing time each day, and not the itemization
of how many miles he had run on each different pair
of shoes, and not what the average pace per shoe was.
Maybe he'll go home and tally that for us.
I'm beat now; so are you if you're still reading.
Next I'll send you an email with the photo attached.
Happy Orthodox Xmas and happy new year.
Hey, Joe N, keep in touch.
----Rita
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