Getting My Behind Off The Couch

Listening to the torrential rains the night before Wendy's Get Your Fat Ass Off The Couch Run was not encouraging. I was trying to get excited about running for 3 hours soaking wet, cold and miserable. In principle, I like running in the rain, feeling the rain drops on my face, jumping through the puddles and getting all nice and warm in the shower afterward. But this particular morning, I felt tired and not up to dealing with the additional challenge of the elements.

Alas, I was signed-up and I knew Pat would be in front of my house to car pool to the start at 7:45. The sky looked promising when we headed east on the highway to meet the other runners at the Ron Andrews Rec Centre and by the time we got out of the car to greet Wendy, it had stopped raining. The temperature were in the mid-teens. It felt like warm air was pushing the rain clouds away. Most runners at the start line sported way too much clothes for the dry skies and rising temperatures. As soon as we were heading up the road on Berkely to the trailhead, I pulled off my rain gear. Short sleeves and tights were just fine for me.

There were 19 Club Fat Ass members looping up and down the trails on lower Seymour Mountain. I broke my pattern of being the involuntary sweep and joined the group around Craig Moore, Gilles Barbereau, Caroline Lepard, Ryan Reilly and Karl Jensen. Figuring I could always fall back to my usual group should the pace catch-up to me, I played guide, preventing the "fast" guys from taking short cuts ;-) This was my 3rd time running Wendy's course and I didn't need to consult the directions, which made us save a few minutes.

Our chitter chatter kept us running at a good pace - for me anyway. Thankfully, the guys like to walk the uphills...giving me a breather. Conversation hopped from bold mushroom hunters (did you know that there are old mushroom hunter, bold mushroom hunters, but not very many bold,old mushroom hunters), to the Double (now Vancouver 100), to the Western States 100 Endurance Run (Gilles is eyeing this one and was getting loads of advise and info from both Karl, a seasoned 100 mile runner, and Craig, of "Double" fame) and back to The Double. Did I hear anybody say The Triple?

The trails were beautifull. Sunlight illuminating squeeky clean, bight yellow maple leafs among the evergreen rain forest.

By the time I had rescued the guys from a serious shortcut up the powerline my legs were tired and I had trouble hanging on. A beautifully winding trail following up a ridgeline and then down to huge mud puddles revived me. Unfortunately, the rest of the gang smelled the barn as well and as soon as we hit the pavement Karl and I were rather unceremoniusly left in the dust. So much for playing guide...

In the end my time was 26 minutes faster than last year. I am quite sore and happy today. Thanks, gang!