Saturday morning, I loaded up the car and headed North.
First detour: Crow Mountain Orchards in Fackler, AL.
Half the fun is getting there. The orchards produce Alabama's best apples due to their cooler microclimate atop the mountain. The switchback roads leading up to it are not for the faint at heart!
Unfortunately, they don't offer organic produce, but at least I'm supporting an Alabama family farm.
Permission was granted to run through the peach orchards. Voles and field mice beware: the Lean Mean Pointing Machine is on patrol.
Ears a flappin': Cole at full gallop. Some dogs love to run, for him it's a necessity.
Four bushels of apples later, I aimed the car towards Indiana.
Unplanned pit stop:
Walls of Jericho Trail in Tennessee. I was the one in need of running.
Hardwood forests shrouded in mist--magical.
At half past dark, I arrived at Lincoln State Park in Indiana. I'm rather adept at setting up camp by head lantern!
At 6:30 AM Sunday morning, Cole and I were warming up for the marathon. I'd switched our registration from the 14k (8.75 miler) to the full marathon (26.2 miles).
The Honest Abe Trail Race is a small event spearheaded by an insanely dedicated man and his entourage of devoted volunteers (wife, family and friends). The director hand makes all the marathon finisher's awards out of dead fall wood. He was even out running the course by flashlight at 4 AM to ensure that no one had tampered with all his directional signage. His main sponsor is an natural food store (right on, dude), no generic Oreos or 2 year old Nekot crackers at his aid station (yeah, I'm talking about you Callaway Gardens Twilight 10k race in Georgia).
I wholeheartedly endorse this race. Super organization, friendliest folks, inexpensive to register, beautiful hardwood forests, pretty streams, nice lakes, plenty of roots, rocks and hills to make it a technical run without being a killer.
In exchange for being the first person allowed to run with a dog, I'd promised to keep Cole out of the way. We started last, made time for wading in the lakes, sitting down to pick nick on salmon and chicken broth (him) and fruit leather rollups with peanut butter (me). I didn't even notice my time as I crossed the finish line, that's how much fun I was having running my dog.
As it turns out, we finished in the middle of the pack: 5hr 25 min.
So much cooler than a factory made metal medal!
Two runners, two awards.
Cole misunderstood the significance of his award.
He insisted that I chase him to get it back!
Taunting me. I got it back--eventually.
Cole and I have now completed trail runs in 30 states. We're on a roll!
