Til We Meet In Hell, Season Two

Valerie was nice enough to put together another fun "Til We Meet in Hell" run this year. This time at Thorncrag. I've only run there with Valerie once, but remembered it being beautiful yet hilly. I figured we were in for some rugged loops this morning, but thought I could probably get in 8 to 9 miles in the time allotted. Ryan and I had tried to get a babysitter for Sam so that we could both go run, but in the end it didn't work out, so plan B called for me to run, Ryan and Sam to come a bit later and get in some hiking during the last part of the run, and then all of us to go to Gritty's with the group. From there, we'd assess how Sam was doing, but at some point I'd come home with her, and Ryan would stay to watch football with the boys and catch up with everyone he missed because he was on Sam duty in the morning. Phew. All this juggling is tough work :-)

I ended up screaming up to the "start" line at the very last minute, because Sam needed me to read her a few more stories before I left :-) I think Valerie had given up hope that I was coming, but I made it! Just in time. Like last year, the idea was to run as many loops as you could in a given time frame - 1.5 hours this year. Results were to be tallied with some sort of handicapping involved, but in the end the top three won both with and without the handicap. Guess they are just fast :-)

I wasn't really up for "racing" and was more interested in running with friends, so I started at the back of the pack with Mindy and Dora, and we had fun chatting and catching up as we ran along. The loop started out up a steep hill, then mellowed out a bit on the backside of the preserve, up again to the old fireplace and down a nice, wide path back to the start. Each lap was around 1.4 miles.  Somewhere on the final stretch of lap #2, Emma caught up with us, having made a pitstop in the woods. And from there, the two of us unintentionally pulled away on the uphill, and ran the rest of the way together. I haven't had a chance to run with Emma in a while, so it was fun to catch up! We were definitely running faster than Mindy, Dora and I had been at the beginning, but it felt pretty comfortable. Somewhere around back of lap #4, we saw Ryan and Sam walking towards us as we wound up the hill. Sam was all smiles in the backpack and seemed to be enjoying herself.  We ended up seeing them a few more times as we ran along, which was fun!

The hill at the beginning of the lap got a bit tougher from lap #5 on, but we kept on trudging. We got lapped twice by the leaders - wow!! - and here we were, thinking we were running pretty well :-) - as well as a few others, but we caught some people too, so I guess it all evened out! Anyway, we ended with 6+ laps, or 8.75 miles on my Garmin, in the 1:30:00. Since we were already partway around the loop at the "end" time, we completed the 7th loop, stopping to pick up the flags along the way, and leisurely making our way back to the start, for a total of 9.5 miles for the day. Lots of fun! Thanks to Val for coming up with a nice route, and a great way for us to all see each other on the trails!

The fun continued after the run at Gritty's in Lewiston with lunch and awards. Sam was in great spirits the whole time, and lasted much longer than I thought she would, enjoying the festive atmosphere and being surrounded by all our friends. And best of all, despite the late hour when we got home, she is currently napping! Hurray! :-)