Kind of an odd Thanksgiving this year. Dana had to work a 12 hour shift at the hospital. My Mom had surgery yesterday and the witch doctor hospital barely had her skull stitched up before sending her home. She was/is still groggy and we decided to do the traditional dinner thing later in the weekend.
A annual tradition in Tulsa on Thanksgiving morning is the Von Franken Run. This is a fun-run around Zink Lake, and the only entry fee is a sack of non-perishable food for the Salvation Army. I was able to sneak out some pickled beets, along with some other veggies. Dana actually packed up a bag of goodies enough to feed an army....well, a small army. Ok, it would feed 2 or 3 people if they liked veggies.
The 400-500 people running came up with around 4,000 lbs of food for the less fortunate. I think we did good.
It was a picture-perfect morning without a cloud in the sky. Temps were in the mid 30s at the start, but not a bit of wind. What a nice day to run.
Jack Wing, the voice of nearly every big race in Tulsa, and Dan Threlkeld handled the emcee duties. Dan was a popular fellow, delivering such good weather.
A whole gang of RW/TATUR peeps awaited the start of the run. Sandra's headband says it best. Burn a few calories early to offset that extra serving of turkey-and-dressing! Have the 2nd piece of pecan pie, you'll need another afternoon run.
Even Rock Star Ed bought into the calorie-pre-burn theory.
After the run, three of the running stores in Tulsa, including RunnersWorld, donated lots of give-aways and Dan drew and called numbers. It took quite a while to go through the stash of t-shirts, running socks, and water bottles.
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After the morning run, my nephews John and Jeff and I went north through Bartlesville towards Pawhuska to Osage State Park to run the trails there. I had been there a couple of times a few years back, and remembered the trails being ok....not great, but worth an occasional trip. I was thinking you had to use your imagination to string 5 miles together. Either there are more trails there now, or I had missed some of them in my past trips. After looking at a crudely drawn map, we found a way to sting a loop together that used all the trails in the park, and still see a few cool sights along the way.
We started with the cabin trail.
Some of these trails are merely mowed swatches across a field....not my favorite kind of trails, but there was not a lot of this, and they were smooth and runnable.
Straightaway, eagle-eye John spied an, um, an eagle. Sorry for the pun. It was down this steep wash which featured a 10' drop down some wet slick rocks. Funny how the camera seldom picks up the steepness of an incline.
Actually, what he saw was a vulture feeding on a dead hawk. Here, he holds up the remains of the big bird that was being eaten by another big bird.
A stream., Sand Creek I think, runs through the park area. part of the creek is muddy and ugly, but parts of it run through large boulders and has more the look of a mountain stream.
Across the stream was a large outcropping of limestone towering in places 100 feet or so. These bluffs seem to have a few caves, or at least small crevices. We debated crossing the stream but there was the matter of this sign.
Oops. Well, you guessed it. The Five Man Electric Band said it best. Maybe I'll YouTube the video.
There were several caves, but this was the biggest one we found. Most were big enough for industrious field mice, or timber rattlers during the summer.
Any kind of good running pace was blown traipsing back and forth along these bluffs. But we were not thinking about anything but having fun.
Recrossing the stream, John and Jeff tried to install some new stepping stones.
John takes a break after heaving large stones. (He still got his feet wet!)
A cool diversion from the trails. This stream has running water except in the very driest days of summer.
Mussels anyone?
We did a little climbing on a trail that was well maintained, and then it got a little technical.
Yes, the trail goes there.
There were several trail spurs leading back to the river highlighting bluffs like these.
Of course, the boys had to climb down to a little shelf 30 feet below on the face of the bluffs.
After that, we left the river and headed towards the other end of the park/ We ran through some bottom land on a long loop that seemed to be cut and maintained by a John Deere.
If the sign says don't do it, John is gonna do it.
Another trailhead, and more climbing.
Further up the trail, we came to this natural amphitheater.
Nearing the top.
From the Lookout Tower.
Now the boys can never say I never let them drive.
Getting late in the day. I wonder if there are trails on the other side of this lake.
The sun rests on a tree limb before retiring for the night.
We found a mountain bike trail that was new to me. At 4:00, we started out down this twisty winding single track. I am guessing it is a loop since we came to a T-intersection about a 1/4 mile in. I looked at my watch and garmin and decided we would run out for 30 minutes and then if we did not loop back, we'd turn around and come back. We went a little over a mile, and the trail continually turned further and further away from the trailhead, so I made the decision to turn back. I have been out on new trails after dark without a light, and it's not fun....especially when the temperature drops like a rock when the sun goes down. I want to find out more about this newish bike trail. maybe it goes on for 10+ miles....would be a great run.
Now, it is 2:00 Friday morning. I still have had no turkey and dressing. Dana did bring me some potato casserole, sliced ham, and a sweet potato dish from work. YUM!
Hope everyone had a great turkey day. I loved mine,, even without turkey!
The 400-500 people running came up with around 4,000 lbs of food for the less fortunate. I think we did good.
It was a picture-perfect morning without a cloud in the sky. Temps were in the mid 30s at the start, but not a bit of wind. What a nice day to run.
Jack Wing, the voice of nearly every big race in Tulsa, and Dan Threlkeld handled the emcee duties. Dan was a popular fellow, delivering such good weather.
A whole gang of RW/TATUR peeps awaited the start of the run. Sandra's headband says it best. Burn a few calories early to offset that extra serving of turkey-and-dressing! Have the 2nd piece of pecan pie, you'll need another afternoon run.
Even Rock Star Ed bought into the calorie-pre-burn theory.
After the run, three of the running stores in Tulsa, including RunnersWorld, donated lots of give-aways and Dan drew and called numbers. It took quite a while to go through the stash of t-shirts, running socks, and water bottles.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
After the morning run, my nephews John and Jeff and I went north through Bartlesville towards Pawhuska to Osage State Park to run the trails there. I had been there a couple of times a few years back, and remembered the trails being ok....not great, but worth an occasional trip. I was thinking you had to use your imagination to string 5 miles together. Either there are more trails there now, or I had missed some of them in my past trips. After looking at a crudely drawn map, we found a way to sting a loop together that used all the trails in the park, and still see a few cool sights along the way.
We started with the cabin trail.
Some of these trails are merely mowed swatches across a field....not my favorite kind of trails, but there was not a lot of this, and they were smooth and runnable.
Straightaway, eagle-eye John spied an, um, an eagle. Sorry for the pun. It was down this steep wash which featured a 10' drop down some wet slick rocks. Funny how the camera seldom picks up the steepness of an incline.
Actually, what he saw was a vulture feeding on a dead hawk. Here, he holds up the remains of the big bird that was being eaten by another big bird.
A stream., Sand Creek I think, runs through the park area. part of the creek is muddy and ugly, but parts of it run through large boulders and has more the look of a mountain stream.
Across the stream was a large outcropping of limestone towering in places 100 feet or so. These bluffs seem to have a few caves, or at least small crevices. We debated crossing the stream but there was the matter of this sign.
Oops. Well, you guessed it. The Five Man Electric Band said it best. Maybe I'll YouTube the video.
There were several caves, but this was the biggest one we found. Most were big enough for industrious field mice, or timber rattlers during the summer.
Any kind of good running pace was blown traipsing back and forth along these bluffs. But we were not thinking about anything but having fun.
Recrossing the stream, John and Jeff tried to install some new stepping stones.
John takes a break after heaving large stones. (He still got his feet wet!)
A cool diversion from the trails. This stream has running water except in the very driest days of summer.
Mussels anyone?
We did a little climbing on a trail that was well maintained, and then it got a little technical.
Yes, the trail goes there.
There were several trail spurs leading back to the river highlighting bluffs like these.
Of course, the boys had to climb down to a little shelf 30 feet below on the face of the bluffs.
After that, we left the river and headed towards the other end of the park/ We ran through some bottom land on a long loop that seemed to be cut and maintained by a John Deere.
If the sign says don't do it, John is gonna do it.
Another trailhead, and more climbing.
Further up the trail, we came to this natural amphitheater.
Nearing the top.
From the Lookout Tower.
Now the boys can never say I never let them drive.
Getting late in the day. I wonder if there are trails on the other side of this lake.
The sun rests on a tree limb before retiring for the night.
We found a mountain bike trail that was new to me. At 4:00, we started out down this twisty winding single track. I am guessing it is a loop since we came to a T-intersection about a 1/4 mile in. I looked at my watch and garmin and decided we would run out for 30 minutes and then if we did not loop back, we'd turn around and come back. We went a little over a mile, and the trail continually turned further and further away from the trailhead, so I made the decision to turn back. I have been out on new trails after dark without a light, and it's not fun....especially when the temperature drops like a rock when the sun goes down. I want to find out more about this newish bike trail. maybe it goes on for 10+ miles....would be a great run.
Now, it is 2:00 Friday morning. I still have had no turkey and dressing. Dana did bring me some potato casserole, sliced ham, and a sweet potato dish from work. YUM!
Hope everyone had a great turkey day. I loved mine,, even without turkey!
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