I Ain't Getting Out of the Car

That's what I told myself as I was idling in the Rt. 606 parking lot last night with the AC running, waiting to see who else was going to arrive for trail night. Well, no one else arrived. Which I was secretly grateful for, because I wouldn't have to get out of the car. It was the flies, you see. BIG flies. Fast flies. Crazy kamikaze flies! The moment I stopped the car in the shade of a few pine trees they began whacking into it. The windows. The doors. The hood, trunk, and roof! It was amazing to watch. And hear! Either they were all really pissed at someone or I had just stumbled upon the world's dumbest flies. There was NO WAY I was going to give them the chance to whack into me!

So when no one else had arrived by 6:00 I drove down to the Spillway to park. No crazy flies there! Getting my gear (and Off!) on, I set out for a long loop on the trails. I was quickly overtaken by another runner looking for someone to run with. It turned out to be a fellow by the name of Brian from the club. I told him what my plans were and he decided to join me.

We had some good conversation, when we could, about running and racing. I knew he had worked IM Wisconsin as a volunteer, but I found out last night that he had also competed in it too. I was able to get some good advice from him about the swim and bike legs. I may stick with my game plan for the swim, but may incorporate some of his ideas on the bike. We were out for 1:40 and ran just over 10 1/2 miles. Pretty good for a hot, muggy, buggy trail run.