The intention for this weekend had originally been to head up north and preview a bit more of the Superior Moose Marathon trail. However, lodging became hard to come by, so we changed our plans and headed south instead. I decided to show my wife a bit of the trail that we run during the Zumbro trail race. My plan had been to run a couple of 5 mile loops, but the trail conditions and weather changed our plans.

We arrived at the Zumbro River Bottoms west assembly area around 10:30am. This is a bit later than I had anticipated and the heat and humidity of the day had already started to set in. We packed our vests and started out together, arriving at the first killer hill within a quarter mile of where we started. There was a bit of mud on the hill, but overall, the trip to the overlook was uneventful, just long and uphill. We stopped at the overlook and then started on the downhill. This is where things started to take a turn for the worse.

As we headed down the hill it became clear that the trail conditions were not good. If it wasn’t ankle deep mud in pools of water, it was slippery, sandy mud that slowed you down so that you didn’t end up on your ass. We eventually made our way down the hill and started back towards the start line. My intention had been to run the route from Start to Aid Station 1/4, and then head back along the route to the finish as if we just finished at Aid Station 4. When we got to AS1 I realized that we missed a turn-off on the way down and I wasn’t 100% sure which way to head back, so we decided to take the main path along the river back to the starting area. As we headed down this path we decided that the 90 degree heat, along with the constant lakes of mud, meant that only one loop was in our plan for the day.

We arrived back at the car around noon and proceeded to wash our shoes and pack up from a mediocre workout of only 5ish miles. We decided that tomorrow we would hit Afton State Park on our way back into town and get in some more substantial running on a course that is in much better shape. I was a little disappointed that the Zumbro run didn’t turn out as cool as I was hoping for, but we still had a great time over the 90 minutes that we ran around.

After leaving Zumbro we headed up to a brew pub that we had been told about by the owners of Red Wing Brewery, called Reads Landing Brewing Company. We decided, based on our state of sweat and stink, that we should sit on the patio, so we grabbed a table with a view of the river and settled in for a nice lunch. I started with a flight of their 5 beers, which were all really well done. Very solid beers with no brewing flaws, and one of them that inspired me to pick up a growler. The witbier with pomegranate is absolutely amazing, and I couldn’t pass up bringing that back home with me.

After our lunch we hit the hotel in Red Wing and cleaned up before a nice nap. By the time we woke up and started feeling active again it was getting close to dinner time. We walked over to a place we’ve been once before, and LOVE, Red Wing Brewery. This great little brewpub has tremendously solid brews, along with amazing personal pizzas with phenomenal toppings. Because I was walking back to the hotel I opted for their full flight of 9 samples of beer. Each and everyone was unique and well done. In particular their farmhouse ale was stupendous and rated a growler from me to bring home to share with friends. Scott and Norm do a great job at this place and it’s REALLY worth the drive down from the cities to check it out. The Metro pizza, with garlic white sauce, beef, ham and blue cheese is so delicious that I wanted to completely destroy my calorie intake with a second one (but I behaved and didn’t 🙂 ).

Tonight is a casual night around the hotel room and then we head out early in the morning to get in some double digit miles at Afton, before heading home. Looking forward to tomorrow, getting out earlier than today and avoiding some of the heat of the day. I’m also looking forward to seeing more of Afton park as I’ve never run there before. Overall, it’s feeling like a great weekend combining running with beer. Two of the things that I love in life, and love experiencing with my lovely wife.