Saturday, June 7, 2008

So Hot and Humid the Deer Flies were Suffering!

5:30 am Rob and I were at the covered bridge to begin our 21 mile run. Already 74 degrees with very high humidity. We opted to do the purple loop first (Lions Falls section). It was slow going as it was hard to get air into the lungs. It is so nice at this time in the morning. No pain in the butt tourons out there making the scenery even better.
Pause at the car after the purple loop and began the orange. The first two miles are up hill making the run even more challenging. I noticed the deer flies preferred Rob's head over mine. They were buzzing him and just driving him crazy. That's ok as long it's not me they are buzzing. I did notice the deer flies were struggling today, also. They normally buzz your head and take bites on the head. Not today, the poor flies were buzzing Rob's head, but instead of biting they had their little mouths open gasping for air. Oh well, even nature has bad days.
We chugged on to Hickory Ridge were I had stashed water the night before. When we went to my hiding place the water bottle were strewn around the area and no water in the bottles. Apparently some raccoons decided we did not need the water. This did create a problem for Rob and I. We did not have enough water to get us to the Class A check in (4 miles), so we took the short bike trail route to the check in and water. After fueling up we headed to the grist mill, then returned to the covered bridge. To make up the lost miles by taking the short bike route we continued to the dam and returned to the covered bridge. Rob said he would not been able to do 100 miles today and told him I would not have completed 22 miles.

A camper along the river asked me if I had been in the river swimming. I said no why do you ask. Your clothes are all wet and you are soaked. That's good old sweat, I just ran 21 miles and it's very humid today. You could imagine what I was thinking in descriptive terms of this person.

1 comment:

Running 2 Mohican said...

Great report Don. This described a hell of a run.