Running Group Lost In Big Lake!

Okay, so I didn't get around to posting last night:( Sorry, better late than never. So here goes....the story about a bunch of running group girls getting lost in Big Lake! Yes Jamoosh, Big Lake is an actual lake but it is also a town. We were not lost in the big body of water....we were lost in the town. By the way, your comment cracked me up:)

Saturday morning I drove about 30 minutes to the town of Big Lake, Minnesota. Valerie is one of my St. Cloud River Runner peeps (Isn't she adorable?) and she was kind enough to host this past Saturday's breakfast run. I made it to her house at about 7:35 AM and planned on getting in on the 8 O'clock run. When I walked into her house she was talking to Paul and Gary who were not running but showed up to chat and get in on the group picture. They were going to go to the state cross country meet to watch my running dad's (Denny's)grandsons run in the state meet. Apparently distance running runs in the family. Denny's grandsons are talented athletes who have had an impressive running season. Val is pictured above...she is taking time off from running due to a femur stress fracture. She ran an amazing Twin Cities marathon in 3:17....super fast PR!! Go Val!

This is Pat our official photographer:)

This is Al...another group runner.

A few of the gang before our run.

Linda and Denise:)

Me and Deb:)

After taking our group picture we headed off into Val's hood. Val lives basically across from Big Lake in a gorgeous area of the town Big Lake. There were so many charming houses and pretty scenery. We ran for about two miles before breaking into running groups. A few of the runners took a different route due to the miles that were needed for training. Many members of my running group are doing the Outer Banks marathon this weekend and are in taper mode. I was thinking about running an easy four miles. The group was going on a six mile run and I figured two extra miles wasn't going to kill me. When we hit the lake we broke away from a few of the other runners and hit the trail system. Val gave us a little map so all was good:) The trail system was really nice. We ran through areas with houses, ponds, woods and even old farmland.

This is Cindy, both Cindy and her husband Donnie share the job of presidency for the running club. Cindy is an amazing runner who has super speedy times! I dream of times like hers:) The trail system was full of little trails. There were plenty of opportunities to get on the wrong trail. Somewhere along the line we got messed up! We ran, ran and ran but didn't end up where we were supposed to:) Where and the heck are we? We took out the map and didn't have a clue! The map had several bodies of water....one of them was Big Lake and we were not anywhere close to that. We ran past an old farm and figured something was not right. After running past the old farm we ran up to a highway that was not on the map. Oh crap! Hmm? What way do we go? I am so directionally challenged and have been lost before on a trail run:) Different story for a different day. Let's just say that my daughter Kay was just a little pissed at me for getting us lost and turning our little three miler into a seven miler! So back to this being lost thing.....we decided to run down that highway and then take a right . Surely that road would take us back to Val's.

This is where we ended up. Hmm, is this on the map? Do you see this road listed on the map...anywhere? Umm....no. Crap! I took this picture of Cathy, Linda, Aneta and Deb:)

Here is another picture of the girls comparing both maps. Deb, Cindy, Cathy, Aneta and Linda:)

We stayed on the road that took us into the new development that was shown on that billboard. Look what we found...how cute is this? Cindy and Linda got into the car and took a moment for a photo opportunity:)

Looking good ladies! We contiunued on and ran for a ways and knew that we would have to turn soon. We did see the water tower and got pretty excited! Just follow the water tower. After running a little longer we lost the water tower!?! What the heck! Where did it go? Aneta wanted to turn left and Cindy wanted to turn right. We turned right and ran a little more before deciding to turn into another little neighborhood. I heard someone say, "I didn't know we were going to run a marathon today!" God, I hope not:) Eventually we ran into a nice man walking his dogs and asked for help. He looked at the map and scratched his head. He turned the map several times looking for something that looked familiar to him. Finally he said, "All you have to do is go straight ahead and hook back onto the trail system and that will take you back to Big Lake." Yay!! We were all pretty excited! We got back on the trail system and were back on track! Cathy noticed some interesting art (X-rated) that was painted on the trails and remembered it from before:) We finally made it to Big Lake (actual lake) and ran on the sidewalk next to the lake for a few miles. It was so pretty but very windy.

Once we saw this I knew that Val's house was just around the lake and to the left! Oh happy day....we made it! After making it back to Val's we enjoyed a nice breakfast:) I showed Val the pictures of our run. She looked at them and said, "Where and the heck were you? " Umm...lost somewhere in Big Lake but so glad to be back! My Garmin showed that we ran just under nine miles. We ran an extra three miles for the morning...not so bad...it could of been worse.

This is a picture of Amy, she ran with the other group....the group that didn't get lost:)

Aneta:)

Deb and me:) I had a wonderful time with my running group...getting lost was a little adventure! I am so glad that I joined this running group because they are all awesome people, great athletes and wonderful friends. There is always good times, stimulating conversation and plenty of laughs on every breakfast run:) Good luck to everyone running this weekend!! Run fast and have fun! I can't wait to hear all about it:)

Happy running, biking, swimming, lifting and surfing! Cheers to you all!

Stacey is hosting a SIGVARIS Recovery Socks giveaway!

Historiadora on the Run is hosting a $60 CSN giftcard giveaway!

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