The Joy of Spontaneity

As some Bimblers know, I am on a bit of a self-imposed hiatus from planning. I am trying hard to keep things “fluid”, and am finding some comfort in reducing “commitments”. Today, my “plan to not plan” (?) yielded a fun morning…Yesterday, at a run I did not plan, we were discussing everyone’s plans for Sunday. Chief among them was Soapstone, which celebrated an impressive 25th anniversary today. Less mention was made of the Cockaponset race, but Guthrie and I did discuss the possibility of being there.
Saturday night, the rain did fall, and the lightning did crash, and my sleep was interrupted by nightmares as well. I finally gave up at about 4 AM, and put on the coffee. I was ready to go SO early, I briefly entertained the thought of jumping on the Soapstone train, but fought the urge. Eventually, I got in the truck and headed out towards Cockaponset, stopping to TXT Guthrie en-route advising her that I would be there by 7:20.
Once parked, I did a quick lap around the lake, disturbing many sleepy soggy scouts at the campsites, and arrived back at my truck just as Guthrie was arriving. It seemed registration was about to start, so we decided to wait to register, then run a little more. Registration took longer than expected, but there was still time to run a mile or so, so Guthrie, an “old pro” at this race, showed me the first few starting turns. We met Suds, and I saw many other familiar, local, non-Bimbler faces. Ultra, with Sam and Chase in tow, arrived to cheer us all on. I was somewhat surprised to not see Ticket…
Right on time, we were off. The race starts on the lawn right at the water’s edge, and heads south down the roughly paved, but closed to traffic, Filley Road. This prevents crowding, and allows for a quick, if uphill, start. Eventually, an unmarked trail goes left off the road, crosses over the Yellow Trail, and turns right on the Blue Trail. Blue if followed south (that’s my trail) all the way to the end at Rte 148. Then a U-turn to the right leads to an unmanned, cup-less water stop, and north again on Filley Road. A quick left heads onto Ultra’s Blue-Red Trail, there is a water crossing almost immediately where I retrieved a runner from heading off-course. I wound up chasing him the rest of the way. Just after this point, Ultra appeared again to cheer us on. We continued up Blue-Red, over the rock scramble, all the way to the lake, then forked left on Blue, taking the hilly trail that is away from the lake. Just before the bridge at the north end of the lake, we forked left again, and followed the river on the West bank. I believe this trail is either un-marked, or white… After what seemed like a long time, we reached Old County Road, and turned right. There is a good size hill here, but the footing is good. A fairly quick right took us back south on Blue again on a really nice section of trail. Around this time I decided I was feeling good, that I had been running a little too conservatively, and maybe I could overtake the guy in front of me. Shortly thereafter, I rolled my ankle! we came back down to the Bridge where Mr. Bimble infamously lures people into the water, as if the bridge isn’t there. I never even noticed the bridge, but I imagined I saw Mr. B on the other side. In fact, it was Ultra, cheering us on again. I complained that I let that guy slip away, and Ultra exhorted me to go after him and “catch him on the swim”. Oh yeah, the swim was coming up! We took the Blue-Red south along the lake all the way to the “decision point” to “sink or swim”…. I mean “run or swim”. I was closing the gap on that runner, so I followed him into the water. Good thing it was so warm and sunny today 🙂 because the water was cold. There was a sign saying “watch out for the large hidden submerged rock”, and there was a guy in a boat saying “watch out for the large hidden submerged rock”, so of course, I slammed my knee into the “large hidden submerged rock”. The water was now swimming depth, but my shoes/socks/shirt were heavy and I couldn’t stay above water, so I just pulled myself along the rope and gave my legs a rest. I chased that other runner all the way to the finish, but never caught him. I met Guthrie, congratulated her on her win (I probably should have asked if she won first, but I was too lazy; besides, I didn’t need to ask), and then we headed off to get dry, if not warm. While doing so, I heard Suds AND Ticket announced as they crossed the line. SO, Ticket WAS there. I guess she arrived quite late. Hmmm, how strange.
We all got some soup, met Sud’s Mom, and enjoyed the company of all the local runners. The Bimblers were done proud, as is so often the case, by the ladies. Guthrie, as previously reported, won the ladies race, and Ticket won her division. Suds and I were quite happy with our admittedly more humble accomplishments. Noteworthy performances were also turned in by Charlie and Becky, and Charlie’s Mom as well.
It was a fun and rewarding morning at a well organized (good trail markings, nice prizes) race. While we were understandably short on Bimblers, the race had a nice local friendly feel.

PS: just like at The Bash, I bashed my knee. At the bash, I changed into long pants and had to cede “best blood” to ET for lack of visible evidence, Today, I had no long pants, and Ultra had his camera phone, so I staked my claim: