On Friday I got to help my friend Beth with her 100K race at the Savage 100. This is the same event as Surf the Murph, the site of my first ultra marathon and my first 100 mile race. I've now run this loop during the yearly event 12 times. As much as I complain about it, it's home field advantage for me. I was worried going into this because Beth had certain time goals in mind, and I had never run that fast before on this course (not including the year the course was mis-marked and we all lost a mile). But sure enough all the years of experience, and months of fitness worked out and I managed a 3:39 loop, and kept Beth on track for her goals. It was a beautiful day in the woods, and when I was done running I got to spend the rest of the evening hanging out with friends by cozy fires, before hunkering down for a few hours of sleep in the Adventure Van after Beth finished. I then got to spend the next morning helping Lisa at one of the aid stations before finally heading home for a much needed shower and nap.
I see this type of twisting on nature walks. It’s fascinating.