Friday night at 10pm 4 other runners from the Frederick Steeplechasers and I met at the Brunswick Train Station along the Potomac River for our headlamp run. Despite rain earlier in the day, forboding clouds all evening, and a vicious breeze in the parking lot when we pulled up, the weather actually cooperated very well. I was shivering in the parking lot in my shorts and long-sleeve tee, even though it didn't seem all that cold (low 50s), while we waited for the last runner to show up. Once we hit the trail we were out of the main breeze and I quickly got comfortable. And a short while later the moon and stars were out.
It was a great run; we had a blast! Thanks to the rains of the last week, there were puddles EVERYWHERE! Between the 5 of us, I think we only had 2 headlamps that were kicking out significant wattage, so spotting oncoming puddles became a full-time job for the 2 runners that happened to be in the lead. Throughout the night there'd be calls of "Puddle left!", "Puddle right!", "Stay in the middle! "Oh, squishy here!", or "Oh, Shit! That was a puddle!" Try as we might, none of us could evade the small ponds very consistently, and after just a few miles we all had pretty wet feet.
But so what? The company was great and running at night along the towpath was really cool! We only had one instance of primal fear - while still near the railroad tracks, a LOUD shot rang out into the night. We're still not sure what it was, but it sound like a cross between a rifle shot and some really good fireworks being launched very nearby. Or maybe something impacting steel very hard. We all jumped and then froze when it happened - I think we all immediately thought gunshot. After a few seconds, Andrea said, "What the hell are we just standing here for? Let's get out of here!" Good thinking. We scrammed!
The rest of the night was peaceful. But the Potomac was raging! The water level was way beyond anywhere I'd ever seen it before. 10, 20, 30 feet out into the water there were still trees sticking up out of the water that obviously should have been on land. Very impressive display by Mother Nature!
Our pace was fairly relaxed, usually a little sub-10 minute per mile pace, and we took several breaks to walk, eat, or take care of more urgent matters. Three of my four companions (Mary, John, and Andrea) were in training for a 100-mile race in Ohio this coming August! Only Uli and I have never gone farther than 26.2. I no longer felt like my 16-mile long run for the week was so significant! For such a long race as that 100-miler, you've really got to tone down the pace so that you've got something left at the end. I think our pace tonight was faster than what they'll do, but the walking mixed in will probably be similar to what they end up doing. The running style was the same.
So it took a while. We did 16.7 miles in about 3:20. Got home around 2:30am .
Hope to do this again sometime!
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