Sometimes Even I Question My Sanity From Time To Time

OK, I'll admit it.

There are times that even I question my sanity.

And before today's run was one of them.

For whatever reason, I texted my friend Chris after I saw him post he was going to do a 14-mile trail run ... beginning at 4:30 a.m. ... after it rained for nearly 24 hours straight (while it seemed like it did) ... in 32-degree weather.

Not going to lie, I was concerned about this run happening yesterday afternoon/evening as it poured the rain all day and the forecast called for the potential of ice on the roads. Fortunately, the rain pretty much stopped around 8 or 9 p.m. and the roads were fine this morning.

I will say I've become more of an Idiot (that's Idiot with a capital 'I' for the Idiots Running Club) since Chris has moved less than a mile away from me. We ran together regularly before he and his family moved, but since he moved, we're run much more together. It's nice when he can just leave his house, run a 3/4 of a mile to mine and we take off.

In the past two weeks, we've run 29-plus miles on the trails and 6.5-miles in freezing rain.

I pretty much knew I was locked into running with Chris this morning because he was picking me up on his way to Levi Jackson State Park. Last night before going to bed, my bride saw me getting my running gear together, prompting her to ask, "Are you really going running with Christ at 4:30 in the morning?" After I said, "Umm ... yes," I got the look ... the you're-such-an-Idiot look.

On our way to the park, we really had no idea what was awaiting us. We knew it would be wet and slick in spots but how many big puddles would we have dodge and/or swim through was still a mystery.

The trail we took was a 1.5-mile, figure-8 loop. We began at the parking lot by the swimming pool and then hit the gravel path that runs along the main road through the heart of the park before we turn off the path on to the trail through the woods. For a trail run, this one is fairly flat. It's essentially a mixture of some nice, easy rolling hills.

We had to dodge the usual obstacles (aka tree roots), but today we had the added bonus of large puddles (or as we called them, lakes) throughout the trail.

Oh, there was also a tree down and blocking part of the trail we had to climb over, so we had own little Tough Mudder. LOL

For the most part, it was a pretty uneventful run. Amazingly, we had a couple others join us. Gina joined the fun at 5:30 a.m., and Ed showed up around 6:30 a.m.

Of course, it wouldn't be a trail run if there wasn't any blood and/or if someone didn't fall. Both happened.

No one is quite sure how and when it happened, but Chris was cut just above his ankle. Nothing major, but still a mystery of how it happened.

I was the lucky one to take a tumble. The funny part about is that it happened at the 13.9-mile mark or our 14-mile run. Must admit that I am to blame for jinxing this fall because as I was beginning to head out of the woods to head back the parking lot, this thought crossed my mind: "Hey, I made it through a trail run without a spill."

The instant I thought that I went splat.

Fortunately, no injuries this time around. Just a little extra muddy and a funny story to share.

As we left the park, we saw we could meet up with some other local runners who were doing 10 miles in town. We mainly wanted to go because they said they were going to have cinnamon rolls after they were done.

We pulled up at 7:59 as they were prepping to head out. We were hoping to score 'A' cinnamon roll. That's all we wanted. A single, solitary cinnamon roll.

However, we were pleasantly surprised when Sandy and Renee gave us A WHOLE PAN OF CINNAMON ROLLS!!!

Let's just say those puppies didn't last long.

Having Chris as a friend is great, but having him a running partner is scary awesome. We always have some great runs together, but sometimes he frightens me with some of his running plans. Yet, once we hit the road, trail and/or pavement, we always have a blast.

I have to do a lot of solo runs, but having a partner in crime makes these crazy, hair-brained runs more fun and fly by in no time.

Happy running!