A Week With Friends

Last week was all about spending time with friends. Thursday I dropped off Mitch's borrowed -20F sleeping bag and his fleece balaclava that he wanted for the Arrowhead Ultra 135. We spent some time going over his gear and talking about his past experiences at Arrowhead, Leadville, and other races. I also got to briefly meet his autistic son, William, who has a fondness for chocolate-flavored wafer cookies. Funny how Mitch's race stash was missing the wafer cookies he just recently packed......... Right now, Mitch is in the middle of this year's AHU and at last check he passed through the Gateway Store at 6:40 pm. Keep it goin', Mitch!!! Mitch has been sending a few of us an e-mail with his GPS location through findmespot.com twice a day. I truly believe he is prepared and has a solid plan for this year's run and will finish his first AHU.

Saturday I met up with P.H.O.U.R. acquaintance Molly at The Murph. It was a cool and sunny morning and the singletrack bike trails were in great shape. We ran a leisurely pace through the winding trails and talked non-stop about running, racing plans, families, and our kids. It was 2 hours of relaxing and enjoyable running. We plan on meeting up again sometime in the future. Thanks for the great run and conversation, Molly!

Saturday evening my wife and I hosted the annual post-holiday party our friends and we have every year. It was our turn this go-around and we featured a selection of homemade wings: teriyaki, hotwings, and Italian wings. YUMMM!!! Of course, there were plenty of other goodies to share, like Betsy's killer guacamole dip, Cliff's creamy corned beef and dill dip, and Cheryl's sinful brownies. Add to that some good drinks, bowling, tennis and golf on the Wii, topped off by Guitar Hero on the 360 and we all had one great night!