Slippery when frozen

3 Veterans and two trail run FNG’s posted on a crisp fall morning.

The Thang: Cross over Nickel Bridge, Buttermilk trail to Belle Isle. Take outside loop around Belle Isle and back over to the Northbank trail. Northbank trail back to parking lot. 7.1 miles done by 8:20 am, COT and out into the day.

Naked Moleskin:

Splinter and Lab Rat posted for their first trail runs with F3. Both had great runs and enjoyed the trail experience. Splinter hung around at the front of the pack with Saab, and Lab Rat spent a good majority of the day with or in front of TYA. No rain on Saturday so the leaves were a little more forgiving. When we hit the Belle Isle bridge from the south side we found the ice/frost. As we took our first several strides on the bridge I look over and Saab was sliding down the new wood. We all quickly moved onto the middle/older section which had a lot more grip. The quick change allowed us to avoid any issues. We met oyster at the start of the buttermilk. He turned around and joined us for the run back along the northbank. Oyster got his usual 20 minute headstart on the run.

Lab Rat and YHC had quite a bit of time to converse on the buttermilk side. Lab Rat is very knowledgeable on the trails and had many great suggestions for add ons and options. He has spent a good amount of time on the trails in the past. We also caught up with each other and realized that we had a bit in common. Both of us have adopted girls from China, and they both compete at the same gym. It was easy for us to figure out who the others daughter was as they are the only two Chinese girls at the gym. Small world.

Long discussion after the run about a few subjects. First was Saab’s daily trip to Martin’s to pick up “lunch meat”. Only the northerners used the alternate “cold cuts” designation for deli meat. The other discussion was about preparing live seafood for eating. TYA admitted that he was uncomfortable killing fish/shellfish and is extremely happy not having to hunt and prepare other types of food. Both TYA and Saab admitted that they would probably starve if they had lived in a time that required the hunting and preparing your own food. Saab relayed a story about a friend of his that put live crabs in the oven for cooking. Wow…

Weather is perfect for trail running. Join us if you can.