Today we went to Norman, Oklahoma to run at Lake Thunderbird at a fun run one of Steve's ultra buddies was putting on. It was a fundraiser for Relay for Life. 50k, 25K and 10K. I was planning on running the 25K, but didn't feel well all night so I had resigned myself to not running.
But about 15 minutes before the 25K start I ran and put my running shoes on and grabbed my water bottle and headed out. To this. (This was taken when Whitney and I walked a quarter mile in to see what it was like.)
Views of the lake.
Mostly though, a jungly very humid forest, at 92 degrees. Running sauna, anyone?
I realized about 1.5 miles in that I still didn't feel well and thought briefly about turning around and retracing my steps and calling it good at 3 miles, but I was still on the path that was 25K and 10K, so decided to finish the 10K.
I came across this sign nailed to a tree.
It was an enjoyable day, Eddie's crew at Ozark Trail last year was the crew that "adopted" the 16 year old boy running the 100 miler because his mom didn't have any idea how to crew an ultra runner.
Whitney went with us and pretty much stole everybody's heart. Adorable was the word I heard most often. I tend to agree.
And here I am, 8 miles (I took a wrong turn and stayed on the 25K path a little longer) on one of the toughest trails I ever ran. My legs are scratched and bloody, I have dried salt everywhere, and in Whitney's words, the car smelled like "updog" on the way home.
I did learn about pygmy rattlesnakes. They are actually Florida snake species, but have somehow migrated to Lake Thunderbird. Steve saw one and said it was coiled up and hissing. Eddie says they are feisty, they come out of the egg mad. Steve called it "little snake syndrome".
Here is some very shaky video of the trail, made with my cell phone while I was running.
And a little more
It was a good week, looking forward to week #3!
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