Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Intergalactic World Championships...

Sounds pretty fancy, and like it was a really big deal, right?  It was formerly called the Red Dirt Championships.  On Sunday afternoon we {I sort of made Josh come with me} headed out to Thunderbird for some trails, food and beer to be a part of this annual trail run that raises money for Relay for Life.  We had plans to run the 10k, and I had plans to just go have a good time.  Rochelle, on the other hand, had plans to win. 

You probably shouldn't even have to ask if we took pictures.
Ross was finding his happy place. 

Josh and Ross, this was not long before Ross said, let's just hang here and drink beer until they get back and Josh said something about needing to earn their beer.  This is an important part of the story.



Rochelle, Anne, Kim, Me and Monica

So at approximately 1:17 we all lined up and headed out on the trails.  About a mile in I rolled my previously sprained ankle and fell on my butt.  Kim was with me, so I dusted myself off and we set out again.  They say if you don't fall atleast once you aren't running hard enough.  I was hoping that that was my only fall of the day.

Not long after this we ran into Josh and Ross.  In an attempt to beat us all back to the finish they were taking short cuts.  Kharma must have caught up with Josh becasue he had just dislocated his ankle and was lying on his back across the trail.  The ankle was back in it's socket, but there was discussion about who would take him back to the start.  Ross said he would take him and they set off, not following the path back in the direction we had just come, but in some unknown direction they thought would get them back faster.

We headed off again and ended up passing them a few more times on said short cut.  Josh had a walking stick, and there were stories about being carried and some farting that had occured. 

Kim and I ended up spending quite a bit of time with Gus and Tracy.  Gus is one of the owners of my favorite local running store, OK Runner, and Tracy, who I didn't know before Sunday had some mutal friends and graduated the year after I did from my rival Westmoore High School.  Yes, it's a small world.

This is Gus on one of the obstacles along the trail.

Kim tackled it too.

For anyone that has known me for any length of time, it would come as no shock to you that I did not attempt this.  We did get some more pictures though.

It's a Thompson family photo with Tracy and Kim.

This is what happens when you ask a older guy on a bike to take a group picture for you.  We should have known it would be blurry and his thumb would be in the way when he asked what button he should push on my iPhone to take the picture.

We set off again.  I had one other near fall, where I had to catch myself on a tree.  I am sure it looked as graceful as I felt.  Then I watched Kim stub her toes on a small root and then managed to do the exact same thing.  That was quite painful.

Yes, we even saw Sasquatch!
Tracy, me and Kim with Sasquatch.

We got back to the start, Josh finally made it back with the help of Ross and some medically trained runners.  He was rewarded with food, beer and an ice pack for his efforts.

And there were more pictures.
Me, Ro, Kim and Anne with the best photobomb of the day.

Ro finally got her picture with Sasquatch.  She didn't stop on the trail like we did because she didn't want anyone to pass her. 

Needless to say, Josh and I went straight to urgent care when we left.  He didn't break anything, just strained some ligaments.  He is in a boot, and on crutches until he can walk in the boot without pain and he will go back in two weeks to see if he can get out of the boot.

What a great day with friends!  I love running trails, and I think if I did it more often my hips would not still be sore and my legs wouldn't feel so beat up by them.  My previously sprained ankle was a bit swollen on Monday, and where my car door hit me in the back of the calf when we were leaving is pretty bruised.  Even so I can't wait for the next trail run.

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