Last night at 8pm, my Hot Mess peeps reunited in the Lifetime parking lot for a field trip. Well, half of us reunited anyway. It’s been a month since our Ragnar adventure from Madison to Chicago, so it was time.  The plan was set in motion on our drive home to St. Louis last month, when we talked about all the fun events we were planning.  Sadly, our Castlewood run a couple weeks ago, which was to be followed by pancakes at Kris’s house, was kind of a bust, due to migraines, and travel, and unfortunate life circumstances.  Almost everyone had to bail on that gathering, so the group was small that day.

So, last night all the Hot Mess girls (Kris, Shalini and myself) along with a few of the boys, (Gerry, Wes and Shane) piled into my Pathfinder and we drove over the Missouri River, west on 94, out to the Lewis & Clark trail for a night run.  The point was for everyone who doesn’t usually run at night to be able to reuse some of the supplies we had to purchase for Ragnar, ie headlamps and reflective vests.  As the FLEET FEET Chesterfield Social Run Leader, I use mine on a fairly regular basis, but there was no way I was gonna miss out on this adventure.

And what an adventure it turned out to be…

We arrived at Lewis & Clark by dusk.  Wes figured out how to set the timer on Shalini’s camera, and the scent of bug spray was in the air (and my mouth…gack!) as we steadied the camera on the one other vehicle in the gravel lot to get the right angle for our self-portrait.  We all commented that it was odd for that lone Camry to be out there at that time of day.  We speculated that there was an ax-murderer waiting for us in the woods.  Ah, but there is safety in numbers.

We each took a final swig of Gatorade before leaving our bottles in the car and I handed the car key off to Shane for safe keeping.  We debated between the 5 mile loop and the 8 mile loop, ultimately landing on the 5 mile loop, nice and slow, before we would head back to the valley for a beer.  The 5 mile loop is Lewis, right?  No, it’s Clark.  No, no, it’s definitely Lewis.  Whatever, somebody knows, right?  Maybe…

We turned on our headlamps and set off down the path.  Of the group, I had run out there the most recently, but the last time was Easter.  The trail has changed a lot just since then with all the rain and tornados we’ve had.  Wes and I are the most frequent traversers of that path, so Wes primarily took the lead, confirming with me in places.  But Gerry, who had only been there once, turned out to be invaluable, finding the path on multiple occasions.

It was officially dark by the time we reached the bluff overlooking the river about a mile in.  The moon was high, lighting up the water enough to see it moving rapidly down below.  Wes said, “Be careful how close you get to the edge there”.  As I scootched closer and closer, I said, “Oh, like this?  Does this bother you Wes?”  I don’t think he found me amusing.

We tried to take a photo or two with Kris’s phone, while the sweat rolled down our faces, but I’m not sure how successful the pictures turned out to be.  Then we took a hard left and headed down the hill.  Shane said something at one point about when were we going to go back up.  Then we went back up.  And up.  Then back down.  Then across the creek to the sign…wait, where is the sign…?  Wes found it.  We’re following Lewis, right?  That’s the 5 mile loop, isn’t it?  Yeah, it is.

No, it isn’t.

Unbeknownst to us, we chose the longer of the roads less traveled.  We carried on, going along our merry way, Wes making owl calls and other odd noises.  What is that sound?  Is that a chainsaw?  It was at about Mile 5 that we got stuck.  The path ended, we headed back up.  No, that has to be the right way…it was, the path was just blocked by a HUGE tree that we had to climb through in order to get back on track.  Good thing we had Explorer Gerry with us to go on ahead and figure it out.

When we got to the sign that read Lewis Trail Mile 6, we knew for sure what we had done and that we still had a couple miles to go.  We were on the longer trail.  That was also the point that I couldn’t stop thinking about the Gatorade that was sitting in my SUV.  It was surprisingly pleasant in the woods last night.  After how incredibly hot it was all day yesterday, the woods seemed strangely cool, despite the thick humidity in the air.  I commented that I didn’t think getting super dehydrated 4 days before my big race this weekend was probably in my training plan.  But, what can ya do?  Just gotta keep going.

At about mile 6.5, Wes, Shalini and Kris were maybe 15 yards ahead of me, Shane and Gerry.  Then I heard Shane say, “Who is that!?”  We could see someone in a striped shirt following close behind our trio of friends ahead of us.  What in the world was going on?

As we caught up to them, we learned that Bill from Florida, had gone out for what he thought was a 3 mile hike at 7:30pm. He ended up on the 8 mile trail, just like we had.  What are the chances of that?  I always say everything happens for a reason. Hot Mess to the rescue!  That’s what I like to call a happy accident.  He had already called for assistance, so when he saw our lights, he asked “Are you search and rescue?”  Kris, not knowing that he was serious, said, “Sure!”  We’ve never met a stranger.  Especially when someone is in distress.  So our group of 6, then became 7.

As we hiked him out of there, he called 911 back to say he had been found.  It was entertaining to hear only his side of the conversation.  “No, I don’t know these people.”  “They’re very well prepared with lights” and “They’re a very exuberant group”.  I’m pretty sure he was talking about me with that last part.  Go figure.  I’m loud.  And I like to laugh.  This is nothing new.

As we finally closed in on the end of the trail, we could see there was quite a welcoming committee waiting for us.  As we exited the woods, we were met by an Ambulance, Fire truck, a couple cop cars, the Park Ranger, and a flatbed trailer to transport the ATV.

First things first, “Shane, unlock the car so we can rehydrate!”  We all agreed that Gatorade had never tasted so good.  The Ranger took down Wes and Shane’s info so that if the deputies had any questions they could get in touch with us.  We took photos in front of the emergency vehicles to commemorate our walk on the wild side.  When I saw “Cottleville” on the Fire truck, I went over to ask if Farrell’s fiancé, Ryan Heaberlin was on board since that is his station.  I talked to Fireman Steve and told him how I know Ryan.  As we talked we realized we had met once before when I brought Silas to the station for a visit.

Eventually, we headed out of the parking lot. I had to weave my way between all the large vehicles with their lights flashing.  We headed to Itap in the valley, for a well-deserved drink, as we relived our adventure of the evening.  Never a dull moment with this group.  I guess that’s partly what makes our name, Hot Mess, so appropriate.  And remember how we saved the distressed runner on the course up in Wisconsin last month?  Well, I’m really glad I didn’t have to help carry Bill through the woods, like I did Angela at Ragnar!

I really don’t have much of a moral to my little story here, other than if you’re going to set off into the woods at dusk, make sure you bring a light.  And make sure you know which trail you’re supposed to be on.  But I’m glad I had that time with my teammates last night before I set off on another adventure.

I leave tomorrow afternoon for Racine.  It may not be in the woods, but it’s still unfamiliar territory. I need to go finish gathering my necessities and packing.  Yes, the piles are already forming on my bedroom floor.  But I got my Hot Mess mojo last night, so what else do I really need?

Please keep all your positive thoughts coming my way, especially starting at 7:20 am on Sunday when the yellow wave of women 35-39 sets out into the waters of Lake Michigan.  It’s almost Go time, People.

I’ll catch you on the flip side…