Finishing A Run At Kettle

Leading into the weekend, Paige and I felt like we were a bit run down and tired from a week of not getting enough sleep but that didn’t slow us down much.  Friday after work, we packed up our stuff and headed for Brelly’s house.  We hung out for a while and got to bed late (after 11PM).  Morning would come soon with the alarm going off at 4:30AM for a 5:15AM departure for Kettle Moraine.  Brian and I are running the Ice Age Trail 50 in a month and had made plans to join some CHUGs and an unofficial training group to run part of the course.  We rolled into the parking lot of the Nordic area around 7:10AM and went about getting ready to run.  It was sunny but quite cool and we were still very sleepy.  I looked up and saw Paige standing there looking defeated and when I asked her what was wrong, she replied “I am so NOT into this.”  She was tired and cold… and about as cute as girl could be.  After a little hug and some encouragement, she got dressed to run.

We headed out on the first 9+ mile loop with Ben and Sarah and warmed up nicely.  The trails in Kettle are awesome and the morning was perfect for running.  I was feeling okay but not great and had a hard time finding a groove.  Just as we were finishing up our loop, we heard someone approaching from behind, it was Ed.   We greeted him and our group grew by one (though we had lost Ben and Sarah by this point).  The end of the loop brought us back to our cars where we refilled our water bottles and made some slight clothing adjustments before heading out for the second portion of our run.  Paige turned back after another mile or so and then it was just Brian, Ed and me; we were all planning to do 25 miles or so.  We chatted as we ran and time passed quickly at first but soon, I was starting to feel less than stellar again.  Nothing was really wrong, but I felt tired and generally fatigued.   We took turns leading the way along the winding single-track, through pine tree laden woods with the aroma of the forest coming to life under the warm sun.  I absolutely love that area and those trails.  Eventually we hit Hwy 12, our turn around point, where we filled our water bottles and took a short break before heading back.  The return trip was tough mentally and physically but we still had a nice time.  When we got back to the car, Paige was waiting and was in a much better mood with the sun warming things up, a nice run in her legs and a nap taken.

We said our goodbyes to Ed and headed toward home.  We stopped at McDonald’s for some post run grub - always delicious.  By the time we got home, we had just enough time for a quick shower and power nap before heading to meet up with some CHUGs for dinner at RAM Brewery.  After dinner, we continued the evening at GameWorks.  I was completely beat but somehow managed to play 400 games of Skeeball, okay that is a slight exaggeration but it was a lot.  Paige was on fire with Skeeball and the tickets were rolling out of the machine as fast as she could tear them off.  At the end of the night, she cashed them in for candy to help ease the sweet tooth she had developed at some point during the day.  Ben and Sarah used their tickets to get a cool little parachute wearing alien which they immediately tested out by having Ben drop from the second floor overlook (it worked like a charm and brought smiles to everyone’s face).  Once we had all had our fill, we parted ways for the night.

We got back to Brelly’s and four minutes later, we were all sound asleep.  We slept in and woke up to Brian and Kelly fixing breakfast.  We could smell coffee first and then bacon - yum!   After breakfast, we played with the dogs for a while and lounged around before facing the reality that it was time to head home.  Thanks for another fun weekend Brelly!