Running In Place

All the way back to last Thursday when I got to meet one of the Texas contingent of the RBF! Jennifer is actually from central NY (though you wouldn’t know it by the draaaaawl ), not but 50 or so miles west of my stomping grounds. So it was most excellent that she had the time to get together while she was back in the area!

In trolling around the internet, trying to think of a middle ground to meet up at and perhaps a nice place to run, I came across a cross country sunset run that sounded neat (< -- if you check out this link, then scroll down and click on 'Thursday, August 4' you can see our results *sigh*). So anyway, Jennifer had the time free and said she was up for it. Cool!

Now I have never run cross country, really wasn't even sure what it was. I've run on a real trail like, twice ever - so I wasn't sure what I was in for but I know the area is beautiful so I figured it would be nice enough. And mostly I was looking forward to meeting Jennifer.

Jennifer and I found each other easily because we both parked in the wrong area, so that worked out. We pretty quickly found the place we needed to be and were able to visit a little before heading off to the starting area which was, well...way out in a field. The race took place near the horse stable of a college that has an equine program, so there were lots of horses, and as Jen mentioned, plenty of horse poo - though where we were running it was old and, um...dry and flakey - not moist and, well you get the idea. The creator of this run is the cross country coach at Cazenovia College and was a thoroughly likeable guy who has been working to create this course and raise some $$ for the team.

We all headed to the start area, there were 15 of us for the 5K, a few for the 3K, and one walker. Coach Dave gave us the layout, a 3-leaf clover kind of course that looped in and out from the origin. Between his instructions and the colored flags laid out, any idiot could find their way around -

well, almost any idiot.

Since the start area was wide enough to accomodate all the runners lining up side by side, I wasn’t allowed to find my spot in the back and we all shot off the line together. I had told Jennifer to run the course for herself and not worry about hanging back with me. She was very kindly and saying ‘no, I’m slow too.’ They all say that until they run with me and get a new perspective We set off and I ran with the crowd for maybe 1/4 of a kilometer. Just long enough to realize that sawdust and powdered manure don’t have any springback, in fact they feel like quicksand. Jen said, well this is fun (bless her, she really said that), I replied with some heavy panting and dropped back at that point, mentally waving goodbye to the crowd and thinking that cross country running might suck just a little. Almost the second I had that thought, the lady running in snowshoes (yes, I am so serious, ask Jen!) passed me.

Once I slowed down and got my heartrate under 340 bpm I was able to manage most of the run, except for a particularly steep little hill (yeah yeah, again with the hill-whining) that I had to walk up. I also lost a little time jogging in place while getting directions 3 or 4 different times as, despite constant review, each time I looped back to the main area I forgot where to go next. Jen was at the finish to cheer me in when I finally did find my way. Afterwards, we snuck into the horse arena and traipsed across dirt and who-knows-what to get to a ladies room where we could freshen up.

Down in town we found a little place for a bite to eat and a visit. Jennifer is super-cool. She has a smile that just shines, a great laugh, and some groovy tattoos! It seemed to me that we had some very similar attitudes about running and life, and I really enjoyed our time together.

So there’s another RBF meet-up, one that spans nearly the length of the U.S. Isn’t that something! Jen’s heading back to her wicked trails and I’m back to my springy asphalt but I think she’s taking a little horse sh!t home on the bottom of her brand new running shoes, just to remember me by.