While the PAX didn’t earn the spot of the first ones at Umstead, we took second place and all parked near the front of the gate. After all 5 of us showed up, our legs decided to start moving towards a great run or our fate?
A mile into the run, the hill started, in fact this is called Cemetery Hill, and the reason might be obvious to the casual F3 running 5 minutes into the climb. As the talking died down to match our pace we all realized we were in for the long haul. Who decided to join us? One of Umstead’s finest- A Pesky Horse Fly. This thing was so big, we thought we would give him a name in COT.
15 minutes later, the hill behind us, the single track in front of us- we all kept in a tight group, no stopping and letting the PAX catch up. In fact our friendly fly was still with us, continuing to look for an early breakfast.
Another 15 minutes later, we finally wore this new member of our group out and he took a much needed rest. Back to the original 5 PAX and 1.5 miles to go. We finally start seeing other groups of people running in the woods- the rest of the world that has yet to experience the gloom prior to 6am. Recruiting opportunities are high out here, where is floppy disk when we need him?!?
stats (from CK’s watch, and prior mapping of the route):
5.25 miles, 50:30
COT:
Hi-Fidelity is in beta mode on Wednesday morning, if running is your weakness, this is your chance to do good to yourself.
