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<\/a><\/p>\nSo, 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.\u00a0 The point was for everyone who doesn\u2019t usually run at night to be able to reuse some of the supplies we had to purchase for Ragnar, ie headlamps and reflective vests.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
And what an adventure it turned out to be\u2026<\/p>\n
We arrived at Lewis & Clark by dusk.\u00a0 Wes figured out how to set the timer on Shalini\u2019s camera, and the scent of bug spray was in the air (and my mouth\u2026gack!) as we steadied the camera on the one other vehicle in the gravel lot to get the right angle for our self-portrait. \u00a0We all commented that it was odd for that lone Camry to be out there at that time of day.\u00a0 We speculated that there was an ax-murderer waiting for us in the woods.\u00a0 Ah, but there is safety in numbers.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The 5 mile loop is Lewis, right?\u00a0 No, it\u2019s Clark.\u00a0 No, no, it\u2019s definitely Lewis.\u00a0 Whatever, somebody knows, right?\u00a0 Maybe\u2026<\/p>\n We turned on our headlamps and set off down the path.\u00a0 Of the group, I had run out there the most recently, but the last time was Easter.\u00a0 The trail has changed a lot just since then with all the rain and tornados we\u2019ve had.\u00a0 Wes and I are the most frequent traversers of that path, so Wes primarily took the lead, confirming with me in places.\u00a0 But Gerry, who had only been there once, turned out to be invaluable, finding the path on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n It was officially dark by the time we reached the bluff overlooking the river about a mile in. \u00a0The moon was high, lighting up the water enough to see it moving rapidly down below.\u00a0 Wes said, \u201cBe careful how close you get to the edge there\u201d.\u00a0 As I scootched closer and closer, I said, \u201cOh, like this?\u00a0 Does this bother you Wes?\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t think he found me amusing.<\/p>\n We tried to take a photo or two with Kris\u2019s phone, while the sweat rolled down our faces, but I\u2019m not sure how successful the pictures turned out to be.\u00a0 Then we took a hard left and headed down the hill.\u00a0 Shane said something at one point about when were we going to go back up.\u00a0 Then we went back up.\u00a0 And up.\u00a0 Then back down.\u00a0 Then across the creek to the sign\u2026wait, where is the sign\u2026?\u00a0 Wes found it.\u00a0 We\u2019re following Lewis, right?\u00a0 That\u2019s the 5 mile loop, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Yeah, it is.<\/p>\n No, it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Unbeknownst to us, we chose the longer of the roads less traveled.\u00a0 We carried on, going along our merry way, Wes making owl calls and other odd noises. \u00a0What is that sound?\u00a0 Is that a chainsaw? \u00a0It was at about Mile 5 that we got stuck.\u00a0 The path ended, we headed back up.\u00a0 No, that has to be the right way\u2026it was, the path was just blocked by a HUGE tree that we had to climb through in order to get back on track.\u00a0 Good thing we had Explorer Gerry with us to go on ahead and figure it out.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 We were on the longer trail.\u00a0 That was also the point that I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about the Gatorade that was sitting in my SUV.\u00a0 It was surprisingly pleasant in the woods last night.\u00a0 After how incredibly hot it was all day yesterday, the woods seemed strangely cool, despite the thick humidity in the air.\u00a0 I commented that I didn\u2019t think getting super dehydrated 4 days before my big race this weekend was probably in my training plan.\u00a0 But, what can ya do?\u00a0 Just gotta keep going.<\/p>\n At about mile 6.5, Wes, Shalini and Kris were maybe 15 yards ahead of me, Shane and Gerry.\u00a0 Then I heard Shane say, \u201cWho is that!?\u201d\u00a0 We could see someone in a striped shirt following close behind our trio of friends ahead of us.\u00a0 What in the world was going on?<\/p>\n 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. \u00a0What are the chances of that?\u00a0 I always say everything happens for a reason. Hot Mess to the rescue! \u00a0That\u2019s what I like to call a happy accident.\u00a0 He had already called for assistance, so when he saw our lights, he asked \u201cAre you search and rescue?\u201d\u00a0 Kris, not knowing that he was serious, said, \u201cSure!\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019ve never met a stranger.\u00a0 Especially when someone is in distress.\u00a0 So our group of 6, then became 7.<\/p>\n As we hiked him out of there, he called 911 back to say he had been found.\u00a0 It was entertaining to hear only his side of the conversation.\u00a0 \u201cNo, I don\u2019t know these people.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re very well prepared with lights\u201d and \u201cThey\u2019re a very exuberant group\u201d.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure he was talking about me with that last part.\u00a0 Go figure.\u00a0 I\u2019m loud.\u00a0 And I like to laugh.\u00a0 This is nothing new.<\/p>\n As we finally closed in on the end of the trail, we could see there was quite a welcoming committee waiting for us.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n First things first, \u201cShane, unlock the car so we can rehydrate!\u201d\u00a0 We all agreed that Gatorade had never tasted so good.\u00a0 The Ranger took down Wes and Shane\u2019s info so that if the deputies had any questions they could get in touch with us.\u00a0 We took photos in front of the emergency vehicles to commemorate our walk on the wild side.\u00a0 When I saw \u201cCottleville\u201d on the Fire truck, I went over to ask if Farrell\u2019s fianc\u00e9, Ryan Heaberlin was on board since that is his station.\u00a0 I talked to Fireman Steve and told him how I know Ryan.\u00a0 As we talked we realized we had met once before when I brought Silas to the station for a visit.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n