Bluff Point Twilight Trail Race 2007

Maybe the sun will shine today – Wilco, Sky Blue Sky

Then again, maybe it won’t. Not that it needs to when running one of the best races of the year!

The Bluff Point Twilight Trail Run was tonight, and, as usual, it was the highlight of both my social life and the second best date on my annual race calendar. It’d be in the running for first, but New Haven is two beautiful Labor Days in a row, and The BPTTR is only batting .333 for nice weather.

So, proving that we’ve gotten old and boring, my lovely wife, Melissa, and I sprung for a babysitter tonight so we could go run together. And truthfully, I loved it.

April Anne made the trip down to the shore with the promise of USCGA cadets on the course, despite the mid-40’s temperature, grey clouds, and promise of more rain. The rain was made especially stinging thanks to 10 days or so of perfect weather preceding it.

There didn’t seem to be nearly as many people there tonight as there were in 2005 or even 2006, but the crowd that was there was ready to run.

Best part about rainy trail runs? It’s about a mile into the run, when there’s finally a puddle that you just can’t scoot around, and the freedom that you get once your foot completely gets soaked. Before there’s water over the top of the shoe, there’s the myth that you might be able to keep your toes dry. But once they’re wet, it just doesn’t matter any more, and somehow that makes the squishiness between the toes feel fine.

About two thirds of a mile down the trail, I said “Hey, I thought running was supposed to warm us up?” April Anne, before she kicked in the afterburners said “Wow, you’re reading my mind”. It was chilly. Warren said yesterday “As long as it’s warmer than about 40 degrees, it’s great.” Yeah. Right. Canadians…

As I’ve been a slacker, and Melissa’s new to running on trails, we took it easy over much of the course. And y’know what? I loved it. Granted, I love races where I let it all hang out and blow up about 3/4 of the way to the finish line, and cross the line on willpower alone.

But tonight was different. The woods were wet, and fresh, and chilly, and absolutely stunning, and I was running with my absolute favorite person in the world, no other distractions. It doesn’t get better than that.

We finished in a bit over an hour. (A bit being about 10 minutes). April Anne was waiting for us. She and Missy chatted for a while while I stuffed my face with steamy chowder and donuts. They sipped water.

Heh, so I guess I did get a tasty meal out of the date in addition to the run.

Here’s hoping for sun in 2008. Get your registration in early!

Oh, and the new album is all that and a bag of chips. I may have to dust off the podcasting tools and give y’all a taste.