On Saturday July 19, Dennis Crowne, Cee Heard, and Jim “I want to arrive early and hear the orientation” Millar, headed to Fair Hill, MD for the Trail Dawgs St. Roch’s trail run. This was a free trail race, the only fees were for parking $4.00 and they accepted donations. The run started at 7 AM and because of Jim’s anxiety we arrived in plenty of time for the 2 minute orientation which can be summed up as “Follow the pink ribbons and chalk arrows.”
It was a small group, there were only about 30 runners. There were options to do a 7K, 18K or 25K. Dennis is training for his 50K in August and took the 18K option while Cee and Jim did the 25K. The course was marked, but not like a Ron Horn race, and each of us got off course several times but back-tracked and found the elusive markings after all.
There were some hills but nothing too big. The stream crossings were DEEP, one was up to Dennis’ neck. (really). Dennis, running with a woman from the Trail Dawgs, was crossing the stream and she asked to hold his hand. Next thing he knew, he was carrying her in the water walking on his toes.
Another stream required more than just getting across. Runners also had to wade up-stream for about 40 yards in knee-deep water. And you couldn’t travel on the banks because of the trees and bushes. Cee found a guy laying in the water after he had fallen off the bank. He said he was OK and he was probably enjoying the coolness of the water on that hot day.
Cee also did a little mountain climbing. There was a sign “short cut” straight up the hill or alternately you could go the long way around on a less steep option. She didn’t know about the longer/easier option so she climbed up. Mike, the guy she was running with, just followed her up.
There were two unmanned water stops on the course and the people were great. Jim ran with a guy named Dean from the Pagoda Pacers who he found out he had run about 7 miles of the HAT 50K with in March.
At the finish they had watermelon and Mountain Dew. Cee had her picture taken for the best bloodied knee of the day. After the race Dennis was a little worried Cee and Jim were going to be mad at him for getting them into such a crazy run. But they both enjoyed the craziness and had a good time.
