On Saturday a group of us – Chris, Dad, Mike, and I – ran the Paul Bunyan Trail. It was what one may call a “long run.” Crystal dropped us off up in Hackensack at 7:15 am and then we started running home. In a way it was sort of like the old movie, Homeward Bound (in a non-animal kind of way). We faced rain, wind, hunger, sore legs, and plenty of whining.

Because of the distance we all packed camelback style backpacks. We carried water, goo packets, granola bars, beef jerky, and other essentials. We probably could have carried less water and just ran with our mouthes open since it rained for a few hours.

At Nisswa, Chris’ brother-in-law donated a pizza from his Raffertys Pizza and we ate it along the trail. We would have eaten inside, but one of the members of the group smelled so badly we thought it would scare away business.

‘via Blog this’

On July 30th several of us ran one of the most difficult races we have ever encountered, The Minnesota Voyageur Trail Run. Every year for 30 years a crowd of crazies from around Minnesota and beyond have gathered to run over hill and dale (by “dale” I mean rocks, roots, streams, boulders, mud holes, ski hills, and clay slicks). They start the crowd moving around 7 am and then sit back and chuckle as the flood of fools hustle past with whoops, hollers, and grins on their fresh faces. Seven hours later the first of crowd emerges from the brush with sweat running down his face, cramps in his side, and a frighten look on his face as though he is being chased by Sasquatch’s brother.

This year, on the 30th anniversary, the race found three new participants. Dad, Chris Close, and I made the trip to Carlson, MN and joined the pack. The night before we feasted on spaghetti and power aid, topping the pre-race power up with campfire pies at Chris H’s campsite. We spent that night dozing in our tent at Jay Cooke Campground dreaming of the race’s highs and lows.

Five in the morning found us packing up our tent, lacing up our shoes, and jittery with nerves. We joined a few of the racers for a pancake breakfast which would supposedly hold one over during the following test of survival.

We started off after a few timely words from the race coordinator concerning those who drop out, have medical problems, or might get lost. The count down finished and the races took off. What followed was about 13 miles of great scenery and lively chatter, and then a whole lot more miles of misery. Until you run the race, you really can’t appreciate what one is tackling.

I, for one, had no idea what should be involved in preparing for a race of this scale. Not only must one know how to navigate trails with stream crossings and mud pits, but you must also know how to pace yourself, walk up hills, recharge while running down hills, and cleverly slip rocks into your running partners shoes so they have to slow down (this must be done in a secretive manner otherwise harsh words can be exchanged and cruel acts such as “adjusting” course markings can be employed).

Out of the 160 participants this year, about 50 had to drop out. I also know of one person in particular who seriously harbored thoughts of the same for nearly three hours (True store, but I won’t share who this may be for it would greatly damage my pride).

At the end, after the finish line had been crossed, the shoes pulled off my screaming feet, and more nutrients had been poured down my throat a strange happening occurred, I actually had a thought that started with “for next year’s race I am going to…” I’m telling you, they’re a bunch of crazies.

This morning we were supposed to run the Turkey Trot 5k race. However, because it was only 4 degrees F, they canceled the race (see previous post). To spite them we ran it anyway. It was cold.

Wednesday was the big day that Seth had been waiting for! At 6:00 AM, Tim, Seth, and his dad took off to run the 40ish miles around the island. The rest of us tried to leave around 8:00 to drive after them and catch up to them to give them food, water, more sunscreen, Gu, etc. We ended up leaving later than planned because of the car situation. Nate was to drive a little jeep with Darla, the kids, and Cindy. His was an automatic. I was to drive a little red VW Bug (manual, of course) with Amanda, Heather, and Ben. To start things out, the car wouldn’t start at all, so we had to call in the owner of Hotel Aguilar to help. He lifted up the backseat, tweaked the battery, and got it going. Then, we couldn’t get it into reverse so I ran into a pretty flowery bush! (Later it looked like it was roped together so I hope that I didn’t kill it!) Finally, we made it out of the hotel parking lot and then we realized that we really needed gas so after taking the long route, we made it to the gas station while the jeep waited for us down the road. We got gas just fine, but then we realized that we still couldn’t figure out how to put it in reverse! So, we coasted backward a little, but not far enough to be able to drive out of the station. I was stuck and we tried but couldn’t get it to go into reverse. Pretty soon, we had people yelling at us and getting upset that we were not moving out of the way. Finally, amidst many nervous giggles, mostly Ben afraid for his life, I flagged down a pedestrian and asked if he knew how to put the car into reverse. I got out and he got in, and by this time Cindy had walked back to see if we were doing okay. The man couldn’t figure it out either, so all of a sudden, the man and three other gas attendants were circled around the car trying to get it to work. They finally did and we took off as fast as we could (which isn’t saying much), to continue on our trek. We decided that we were doing well as long as the bicyclists didn’t pass us. (One might have, if I remember correctly…) Anyway, we drove for a while around the island, enjoying the warm air and ride (except for the random speed bumps that almost did us in and the way that the car felt like it would lose pieces at any moment if we went over 60 kph or so. We finally got up to the guys running at about mile 20. We reapplied their sunscreen, gave them oranges to eat, and took down some of the quotes that they had been thinking. We drove on ahead to find a beach and look for sea glass while they continued on. By this time, we were figuring out the car pretty well, just as long as we didn’t have to make any tight turns. (When that did happen, Heather had to help me turn the steering wheel for lack of good old power steering.) We stopped at a beach for a while and then realized that the jeep had a flat tire so Nate went on ahead to try to get it fixed. That was just fine and dandy until we realized that the car keys were in Amanda’s bag, which was in the jeep. So, we were stranded out in the elements, (sun, tropical breeze, etc.) with no way to get anywhere. Well, when that happens, there isn’t a lot left to do but eat. So we did. After a long while, Nate made it back and we went on to Zulha beach to snorkel a little and wait for the guys to catch up. (Tim had stayed with us, so now it was just Seth and his dad). After they checked in with us and kept going, we ended up going back to the hotel as well, all fine and none worse the wear (except for maybe the bush and the car). What a day!