Last night, almost on a whim, we decided to do a night run. For Kathy and I, it was to be an all-nighter. For Micheal, it was some tack-on distance to his early morning miles. For Bobby and Russell, it was a 16 miler that turned out to be closer to 17 and then a long slow bike ride after that. For Roman, well who knows? Roman ran, and could have done the full 33 miles on zero training as he has the amazing ability to do just that. But Roman got in 17, and then sharpened his crewing skills for the rest of the night. Also on this trip, Susan helped with crewing duties, having assumed the chore once before. Kristen came along, having demonstrated a genius for aid station duties and tonight took this skill to the road. And finally, last mentioned and best of all, Sandra was crew babe captain-ess, drove a minivan all through the night, shuttled sweaty runners too and fro, slept like NOT at all, delivered bicycles, cleaned up our messes, and flashed a smile all night long. (Would hate to see her grumpy!)
Pictured above, me on the left, Kathy with her color coordinated shirt and do-rag, Roman with the hand jive below, Bobby in the middle, Russell poking his head over Bobby's shoulder, Kristen also hiding in the back, Susan cuddled up to Bobby (he is just so cuddly!) Michael with the green Lake McMurtry shirt, and Crew chief Sandra.
The plan was, run from 21st and Riverside, down to 11th, and then west to Sand Springs, and further west to Keystone Dam, cross the dam, and come back on the old highway, and Avery Drive and on home. From the very onset, it was established that we'd take it easy, stay together, walk the hills, and best of all, have fun.
So at every opportunity, we stopped for photos. This is a sculpture of an old river man navigating a primitive canoe. Throw in some Surfin USA, and you have it.
Sandra and company drove ahead every 1-2 miles and waited for us.
In retrospect, they could have gone 3-4 miles, and maybe caught a catnap along the way. But once they treated themselves to some ZZZZs, they might have found it hard to keep going.
Another photo-op not wasted. Sorry for the blurry pic.
At Sand Springs, Michael dropped out after running 8.25 miles. We headed on west, and the crew babes went ahead a couple of miles to wait for us. It was then that several highway patrol cars, a fire truck. went screaming by us, and in the back of my mind, I hoped it had nothing to do with our van of girls.
It did not, but at the same time, they were concerned that the emergency vehicles might have something to do with us. It did not. But it was enough to flush the sleepiness away. No one hurt here, from what we could see.
After this, we got to Wekiwa Road, which was a shoulderless 2-lane route that used to be the main highway back around 30 years ago. Thirty years with no road improvement meant lots of things you could trip on and long deep shadows cast from our headlamps. This road ran along the Arkansas River and at the base of some bluffs and hills. It also had several areas where rock slides were a possibility.
And as luck would have it, Bobby actually FOUND one of these fallen rocks. Who'da thunk it?
Not one of the prettier sights along the way. It's amazing that on a road that is actually quite scenic, some assholes decide to throw their crappy trash out for everyone else who passes by to see. GRRRRR!!!
Not long after that, we ran by an old lone house that set maybe 100 yards off the road. I heard voices from behind the house, something a little unusual as it was about 1:30 am. I saw some people coming around the house, as we were in the road right in front of it. "Who goes there?" came from the shadows. Roman or Russell answered, "Just going for a run."
The people kept coming. It was dark, and I did not really want an altercation or anything, and tried to not shine my headlamp right at them. I then heard something about "beating up"....not really sure if someone it the group said they were gonna beat us up, or they thought we might beat them up? I am sure that either way, I was not interested in finding out. Now I have seen "The Hills Have Eyes" and this was seeming a little like how that movie started out. Even if these folks would have been fascinated that we were running all night and had ran 14 miles from downtown Tulsa, and were part of TATUR and RunnersWorld and all, A more likely scenario would have been they were crazed meth addicts looking for some people to run through their compost machine.
So, I decided since we were runners, why not just show them that instead of just sharing that with them. Besides, with 3 or 4 of them, Kathy would have had her hands full whipping all of them while the rest of us watched. After running for about a quarter of a mile, we came to this sign.
It seems we were having the worst luck! But bravely, we took our chances on this dilapidated bridge.
Kathy nearly made it across, and luckily was able to scramble her way over.
Right after that, two highway patrolmen cam screaming up, lights-a-blazing, and wanted to know who we were and what we were doing. We told them, and they were understanding, and let us go on our way. They roared up, back and forth down the road, stopping several cars. It was decided they were looking for someone, probably in a car or truck. I think it was probably some of the "hills-have-eyes" people. Dunno.
1.5 miles later, we made it to Keystone Dam.
Water was roaring through the turnstiles at a deafening pace. We ran most of the mile across the dam to our next crew stop. It was here where Russel and Bobby hopped on their bikes and rode for the rest of the night.
We probably spent more time at this stop than any other. This would have been a failing grade in "transition time" if this had been a duathlon.
Ok....who farted?? Susan has the authentic look of disgust, so she's off the hook. Roman seems to be enjoying the moment, although it could be from oxygen deprivation. Sandra has that guilty little grin....hmmm. The answer: it was Kathy.
From there, we ran along the old highway on the south side of the river. It was an old bumpy paved road that was in disrepair. At one point, a train track crossed the road diagonally, and it was at this place that the road was wide and it seemed a good place for the van to stop so as to give room for passing vehicles. we were eating, drinking Gatorade, refilling our water bottles, and goofing off in general. Then I heard "DING DING DING DING" and the warning barriers dropped and indicated a train was coming. We were not actually parked on the tracks, but were well within the crossing guards.
It was a little unnerving, and Sandra quickly pulled the van around the barrier to a safer feeling place. the train sped by at a very high speed, away and into the night.
This was the first of several trains that passed us by. Each train whistle filled the cool night air, and resonated against the darkness an a sad and mysterious way. It truly seemed magical to me. The night's sky was overloaded with stars, and a half moon made an appearance late in the run.
Picture taking went by the wayside after that, as were were tiring, and more focused on finishing our run. Bobby and Russell exited shortly after that, and Kathy and I stopped at Chandler park, with 29.5 miles to brag about. 13 hours later, I have had a 6 hour sleep, had some ibuprofen, and will likely take another long sleep before long. Just one blister to show for the trip, but despite 4 pictures, it was just not worthy to show here on the blog....I do have standards, you know.
All in all, this was maybe the most fun spontaneous night run ever. Lots of excitement, perfect temps, a relaxed pace, good friends. Possibly, I will have some more pics later, if I can swipe some from Roman's camera.
Happy trails.
Pictured above, me on the left, Kathy with her color coordinated shirt and do-rag, Roman with the hand jive below, Bobby in the middle, Russell poking his head over Bobby's shoulder, Kristen also hiding in the back, Susan cuddled up to Bobby (he is just so cuddly!) Michael with the green Lake McMurtry shirt, and Crew chief Sandra.The plan was, run from 21st and Riverside, down to 11th, and then west to Sand Springs, and further west to Keystone Dam, cross the dam, and come back on the old highway, and Avery Drive and on home. From the very onset, it was established that we'd take it easy, stay together, walk the hills, and best of all, have fun.
So at every opportunity, we stopped for photos. This is a sculpture of an old river man navigating a primitive canoe. Throw in some Surfin USA, and you have it.Sandra and company drove ahead every 1-2 miles and waited for us.
In retrospect, they could have gone 3-4 miles, and maybe caught a catnap along the way. But once they treated themselves to some ZZZZs, they might have found it hard to keep going.
Another photo-op not wasted. Sorry for the blurry pic.At Sand Springs, Michael dropped out after running 8.25 miles. We headed on west, and the crew babes went ahead a couple of miles to wait for us. It was then that several highway patrol cars, a fire truck. went screaming by us, and in the back of my mind, I hoped it had nothing to do with our van of girls.
It did not, but at the same time, they were concerned that the emergency vehicles might have something to do with us. It did not. But it was enough to flush the sleepiness away. No one hurt here, from what we could see.After this, we got to Wekiwa Road, which was a shoulderless 2-lane route that used to be the main highway back around 30 years ago. Thirty years with no road improvement meant lots of things you could trip on and long deep shadows cast from our headlamps. This road ran along the Arkansas River and at the base of some bluffs and hills. It also had several areas where rock slides were a possibility.
And as luck would have it, Bobby actually FOUND one of these fallen rocks. Who'da thunk it?
Not one of the prettier sights along the way. It's amazing that on a road that is actually quite scenic, some assholes decide to throw their crappy trash out for everyone else who passes by to see. GRRRRR!!!Not long after that, we ran by an old lone house that set maybe 100 yards off the road. I heard voices from behind the house, something a little unusual as it was about 1:30 am. I saw some people coming around the house, as we were in the road right in front of it. "Who goes there?" came from the shadows. Roman or Russell answered, "Just going for a run."
The people kept coming. It was dark, and I did not really want an altercation or anything, and tried to not shine my headlamp right at them. I then heard something about "beating up"....not really sure if someone it the group said they were gonna beat us up, or they thought we might beat them up? I am sure that either way, I was not interested in finding out. Now I have seen "The Hills Have Eyes" and this was seeming a little like how that movie started out. Even if these folks would have been fascinated that we were running all night and had ran 14 miles from downtown Tulsa, and were part of TATUR and RunnersWorld and all, A more likely scenario would have been they were crazed meth addicts looking for some people to run through their compost machine.
So, I decided since we were runners, why not just show them that instead of just sharing that with them. Besides, with 3 or 4 of them, Kathy would have had her hands full whipping all of them while the rest of us watched. After running for about a quarter of a mile, we came to this sign.
It seems we were having the worst luck! But bravely, we took our chances on this dilapidated bridge.
Kathy nearly made it across, and luckily was able to scramble her way over.Right after that, two highway patrolmen cam screaming up, lights-a-blazing, and wanted to know who we were and what we were doing. We told them, and they were understanding, and let us go on our way. They roared up, back and forth down the road, stopping several cars. It was decided they were looking for someone, probably in a car or truck. I think it was probably some of the "hills-have-eyes" people. Dunno.
1.5 miles later, we made it to Keystone Dam.
Water was roaring through the turnstiles at a deafening pace. We ran most of the mile across the dam to our next crew stop. It was here where Russel and Bobby hopped on their bikes and rode for the rest of the night.
We probably spent more time at this stop than any other. This would have been a failing grade in "transition time" if this had been a duathlon.
Ok....who farted?? Susan has the authentic look of disgust, so she's off the hook. Roman seems to be enjoying the moment, although it could be from oxygen deprivation. Sandra has that guilty little grin....hmmm. The answer: it was Kathy.
From there, we ran along the old highway on the south side of the river. It was an old bumpy paved road that was in disrepair. At one point, a train track crossed the road diagonally, and it was at this place that the road was wide and it seemed a good place for the van to stop so as to give room for passing vehicles. we were eating, drinking Gatorade, refilling our water bottles, and goofing off in general. Then I heard "DING DING DING DING" and the warning barriers dropped and indicated a train was coming. We were not actually parked on the tracks, but were well within the crossing guards.
It was a little unnerving, and Sandra quickly pulled the van around the barrier to a safer feeling place. the train sped by at a very high speed, away and into the night.
This was the first of several trains that passed us by. Each train whistle filled the cool night air, and resonated against the darkness an a sad and mysterious way. It truly seemed magical to me. The night's sky was overloaded with stars, and a half moon made an appearance late in the run.
Picture taking went by the wayside after that, as were were tiring, and more focused on finishing our run. Bobby and Russell exited shortly after that, and Kathy and I stopped at Chandler park, with 29.5 miles to brag about. 13 hours later, I have had a 6 hour sleep, had some ibuprofen, and will likely take another long sleep before long. Just one blister to show for the trip, but despite 4 pictures, it was just not worthy to show here on the blog....I do have standards, you know.
All in all, this was maybe the most fun spontaneous night run ever. Lots of excitement, perfect temps, a relaxed pace, good friends. Possibly, I will have some more pics later, if I can swipe some from Roman's camera.
Happy trails.
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