Day 62 & Day 63

Day 62 – Rest Day / Day 63 -17 Miles:  Friday was a rest day of weather watching.  Watching the rain turn to sleet and then to snow through the overnight.  Up at 6:30 to a world of white.  Breakfast, a few phone calls and then the decision.  Yes, we will run through “The Worst Snow Storm of the Century”. (of course we have not really had a significant snow storm during the past 8 years). We decided that this had nothing to do with commitment, toughness, or anything admirable. This was an adventure with the sole purpose of creating a story to tell the grandkids. 

With little Charles IV (or whatever Grandchild comes along first) on my knee, I can spin the yarn, “I remember the blizzard of aught eight.  We ran 17 miles in blinding snow and gale force winds.”  

With big eyes, they will say “Poopah” (my self proclaimed Grandpa name), “wasn’t that hard?” 

 I will respond, ” Of course it was tough, but we just couldn’t let those kids  at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital down.”     

“You’re Awesome, Poopah”

Of course when we started there was about 3 inches of snow on the ground, and the winds did kick up to about 10 to 15 mph.  So it wasn’t that bad.  But ten years from now, who knows what I will remember?  (This blog will be long gone) 

We started out with light hearts and lots of conversation.  Running in the few tire tracks we could find the running wasn’t to hard, for about three miles.  Then we hit the island.  The wind on the bridge was pretty stiff, but the crazy-man with snow plow was the real hazard!  To that point we had kept a pretty good pace.  As we came off the Island I started to feel a little fatigue.  My heart was working a bit harder than usual.  Just 15 minutes ago, I was laughing.  Not so funny now.

At about mile six we hit the “the hills of lakeside”.  Normally these would not have seemed significant, but with feet slipping and the snow piling up and the wind in my face, I was beginning to wander what I was thinking.  By the half-way point it would not have taken much to get me to quit, but when we got started again after the short refueling break, I was feeling pretty good. 

About half way through the second loop, we split into groups to allow the speedsters to go ahead.  Oh, wait, they have the map.   This could be a problem.  We took it pretty easy rest of the way.  Especially when we had to wonder around the Romany Road area trying to find our way home.  “Have you seen our mommy?”  Finally, I kind lady pointed us in the right direction and we made it back.

This trip reminded me of Moses and the Children of Israel when they left the land of Egypt.  They broke out of the gates with singing and dancing.  The promised land is going to be great!  Then came the parting of the Red Sea (how else would we get to the island).  What was on the other side? 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (felt like it).  If it were not for the vanilla flavored “Manna Gel”, we would have never made it.  In the end we made it to the Promised Land of Ecton Park after much grumbling and misery.  It feels like that if we could fight through this, we might just make through on April 26th!