Soos Creek Trail Run

Let me start out by saying that "trail run" is a bit of a misnomer. The trail is nicely paved. I was expecting a trail much like the paved trail I normally run on in Orting that is all flat. That was a mistake. This was much more rolling. It wasn't bad, but it meant my already sluggish pace was even more sluggish. My major difficulties were in the downhills and when the trail canted to one side or the other. Those two things would put added stress on the knee and it would twinge some. Not bad, but the twinges were there. In spite of that, I felt like I had a good run. I managed to put in 5 miles in about 62 minutes (told you I was a slug). Normally, I can at least get close to 6 miles in that same time, but I guess this is just my "recovery" pace. Yup, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Here we are congragating after the run. This is when we do our stretching, chugging of post-run hydration/nutrition, and general catch up which usually entails discussing which Starbuck's we will descend upon that day. I was very glad of this opportunity to chit-chat as I didn't meet up with them yesterday (when they run and I usually swim, but I still meet them at Starbucks afterwards).

Once we arrive at Starbuck's we tend to take over the place. Imagine, if you will, a lazy Sunday morning when 18 people suddenly swoop down on your estabilishment without any warning, and keep your barristas hop, hop, hopping!

Today was also the day my friend Barb, whom I hadn't seen in many, many weeks, and I had agreed to get together and run. Barb and I did our first marathon together in Las Vegas 2003, along with Lori, Darcy, and Seujan.


Today was a particularly fine day as there were about 18 of us that had gathered at Starbuck's . One of things I like about these group runs is the sense of camaraderie that exists. We enjoy each others company and love sharing our stories. In addition to talking about running, we also solve all the world's problems, come to conclusions about how to avert the next meteorlogical tragedy, and figure out which races we want to do next, either individually or as a group/team. In this fashion, we have decided upon races like the Rainier to Ruston Relay (50 mile relay or ultra), Rainier to Pacific Relay (150 mile relay), NW Trek Run Wild (8k), Y Run for Kids (5k), and Sound to Narrows (12k), just to name a few. The next group race up is the United We Run Marathon and Relay.

Going for coffee after our runs is not only social, it is often educational. Here you see Darcy (IronAyla) giving blogging lessons to Rob (RunningFurther).

But the really BIG question for the day was what to bring for next week's potluck. Food. We are all about the food. And coffee, of course.