For this particular story I need to make one thing crystal clear; Sometimes in life when your brain tells you "Hey lady given the current circumstances, you probably shouldn't do that." and your heart says, "Umm wait just a minute, that sounds absolutely awesome...!" you just have to go ahead and do the thing even though it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It's the heart healthy way! This race was one of these occasions for me. I am so glad I let my heart win this battle. It led us to the Bootlegger 10K on an awesome trail outside St Louis Missouri which ultimately became State Number 22 in our quest to run a race in all 50 states.
Since so much happened in the past 36 hours, I decided to boil this adventure down to my top 5 or 6 adjectives that best describe our Missouri race experience mostly in order to keep it from getting too long and losing your interest and also because it gave me something to think about while I was running the trail. Here they are in no particular order because honestly I do not know how to organize things.
Nonsensical or Irrational
There were many valid and rational reasons I shouldn't have signed up to run a 10K today. Among them, I hadn't actually run in two week due to my recent gluteus maximus injury. My family had lots of things going on this weekend. My car was overdue for an oil change making a road trip less than ideal and finally I am a volleyball coach with obligations this weekend. I am not sure about the rest of our brigade, but I definitely was not an ideal candidate for running a treacherous trail race anytime soon.
Unlawful or Illegal we will use these words interchangeably for the purposes of this story. Mird and I are not big rule followers. Not sure why, but we just aren't. It might be genetic or something. This fact is actually why we so desperately wanted to run the Bootlegger 10K because bootleggers were the ultimate non rule followers. They cared not that alcohol was totally illegal and just kept everyone happily drinking their way through prohibition. That's pretty cool In short, they are heroes of ours and we wanted to run their race. Secondly, we did a few illegal things on this trip. We can't give you details in our blog or we might get arrested or something so you'll just have to ask for details next time we see you. We broke some common running rules as well. Like nobody would recommend drinking pudding shots before running a race, but that's just what I did and Lisa has determined that she performs best without training so she just showed up to race day and skipped all the training run preparations!
Frigid or Balls Cold this race was so COLD at the start time like 26, but feels like 16 degrees or something close to that. This meant that it was challenging to force ourselves out of Mird's heated car, into the arctic air and ultimately off running on the icy, frozen, tundra that was our trail. Also, the water at the water stations actually had ice gathering on the top of the Dixie cups of water they offered me- both times. This has never happened to me. Never, and I have run a lot of cold races in my lifetime.
See, it's frigid and cold...
Gassy and Melodic this one is a tad embarrassing to admit, but sometimes your friends cut you off from having beans in your dinner because they are concerned about your flatulence. Honestly, it wasn't that bad on this trip usually I fart a lot more. Also, I farted really loud on the trail luckily it was when nobody was around so the timing was perfect. Somewhat loosely related, Courtney has a cool app on her watch that tells her how many glasses of wine she has earned each day through caloric burn. Today was a seven glasses of wine day! Courtney is really happy right now and possibly gassy if she drank all that wine! Also, Mird and I might have burst into song and dance a few times on this journey. I could be wrong, but I think Courtney and Lisa really appreciated it!
Green is the new red! We cheered the MSU Spartans on to victory the night before the race too!
Adventurously and Spontaneous this one comes straight from the race experience. They had the slogan Live Adventurously on a big sign at the finish line and I had a dream of getting a group photo by it, but that never happened so alas I just have to share it in here so y'all can "Live Adventurously" from this day forward. Just do us a favor and let your heart win once in awhile and don't take life too seriously. Be spontaneous once in awhile. Go on, Live Adventurously!
Speedy and Efficient this did not apply to our race running experience for the most part we were not speedy nor efficient out on the trail. However, we were very speedy and efficient during our drive to the race somehow this led to an unfortunate road rage incident on our way to the race. Typically we abide by all traffic rules. It's the one area we feel rules probably are warranted since everyone is driving a car and traffic deaths are so high. However, on the way to the race this morning, shortly after a run in with a grumpy yoga driver, we got pulled over for speeding. I've boiled this entire incident down to one simple take home lesson--I should probably avoid yoga at all costs. That yoga lady was really grumpy and runners are never that grumpy. We were just fortunate that it didn't turn into a full blown road rage incident and we didn't end up dead on the side of the road. Thankfully, we only got pulled over for speeding and in the end we got off with a written warning. I think it is because I was so charismatic and friendly, but it might have been some of Lisa's magic or the power of prayer. He told me to, "slow down because 60 in a 40 zone is way too fast!" No shit Sherlock; it's called reckless driving. I know this due to my questionable past driving history of the late 1990s. Also, noteworthy during our drive home from the race, the Illinois Department of Transportation reminded us "Keep Positive Attitude; Avoid Road Rage". What a powerful message! Yoga lady needs to see that message. The roads are unsafe with her on them!
Magical and Awe Inspiring This one is mostly for Lisa. During this short adventure Lisa managed to pull off several magical and awe inspiring feats. Some were small little miracles like knowing details about things that neither Mird or I had noticed and others were more impressive. She may have saved somebody's life! After the race, she actually pulled a donut and a bag of chips out of her stocking hat and earlier in the trip she pulled a rotten apple out of the pocket on the back of the driver seat in Mird's otherwise spotless car! Finally, magical because there was just something magical and awe inspiring about the four of us actually pulling this whole thing off. Best of all despite everything, I even won my age group and that's some powerful magic for sure! Oh and the prize was pretty awesome--a flask with the race logo on it!
Courtney, Lisa, Vern and Mird The Bootlegger Brigade Babes
State Number 22 Missouri
Bootlegger 10K Trail Run
February 17, 2024
