A few weeks ago, I got to experience a little dejavu. I spent my “Wonder Years” growing up in Scio. Actually, I lived about five miles outside Scio, on Rodgers Mountain, a small butte my family converted into a landing strip for small-prop planes. We did not live close to much. In order to visit a neighbor kid, it meant I had to run a mile or three downhill over an old logging road, across hay fields, over a couple pasture fences, up hill along a sheep trail, back down hill on a gravel road.  Well, you get the idea.

Doing those runs as a kid, it never once crossed my mind to think, “Wow, this is cool.  I could see this being really popular someday.” I just wanted to hang out with my buddies. And what do you know, a few weeks ago, there I was, some 40 years removed from Rodgers Mountain, lined up at Sister’s Middle School with about 500 other souls, waiting in the brisk spring morning air for the signal to head out on a 20-mile trail run.

Trail running is the new big, darn I say, cool thing to do.  It occurred to me a few times over the next three plus hours, “man, I sure haven’t gotten very far in life”.  Still running on logging roads and along sheep trails. At least now I pay an entry fee to do this. That’s progress, I guess. 

Really though, it was a great adventure. My whole family did the event together. My wife and I ran the 20 miler, a Christmas gift from our sons. Thoughtful, huh? And my two sons ran the 40-mile event. We got some nice pictures at the end of the day, all of us covered in dirt, sporting a satisfied grin for what we’d just accomplished, having just downed amonster gourmet burrito that was waiting for us at the finish line.

I was pretty pleased with my performance. I had done very little running leading up to the event, and nothing over five miles. I have been doing Spartan three days a week, along with a little treadmill work, a couple bike rides when the sun had peeked out for a day, and Pilates with Marie Roth.

I was pleasantly surprised by the result, and I enjoyed the heck out of that burrito.