Friday the 13th Group Run recap

Last night I did something really fun.  I ran on the trails in the dark for Friday the 13th with a group of us from SEMR(South East Michigan Runners).  I've run in the dark before of course, since I run in the early mornings when it's dark 80% of the year but this was different.  This was trails in the dark.  Fortunately it was trails that I knew pretty well so that made it better but it was fun having a group of us out there as well on Friday the 13th.

We met up at Buffalo Wild Wings and drove over in a few cars to the back entrance to Stony Creek Metropark where you can enter the trails.  Many of the runners were new to me so it was nice to meet them in person even though I've talked to many through Facebook.  The plan was for 5-6 miles but we ended up doing seven only because we took a wrong turn after we got out of the park.  Oops.

It was a beautiful full moon as well which made it extra special.  We had a great group of runners just looking for a good time.  To be careful, the pace was pretty slow which is exactly how I wanted it and even with that slower pace, we still had several falls.  I was lucky enough not to fall.

Trevor in the blue is running the Woodstock 100k in Semptember - inspiring!

Special thanks to my running buddy Dave, as he helped me navigate through the park to be a tour guide for everyone.  Our policy on these runs is nobody gets left behind.  That was really important considering that it was really, really dark out there! Haha!  Actually we all had headlamps which was cool to see as we were all running.

SEMR Eastside Dirt Crew Group Run

As I mentioned, we did seven miles filled with some flat parts and some hills.  Here's a look at the course we ran as well as the elevation:

Stony Mountain Bike Trails per Garmin

230 ft of gain; 226 ft of loss per Garmin

It was certainly a different experience to my normal trail run.  We didn't see any animals but did see some fireflies out in the field and I have not see one of those in years!  After the run, we headed back to Buffalo Wild Wings where we got to know each other better and have a few adult beverages.  Crystal even brought some Buffalo Turd appetizers to eat where were awesome!(but don't tell Buffalo Wild Wings)  We even closed the bar which I haven't done since college.  Crazy!

Some of the gang near the end of the night

It was determined that we should to this again and I could not agree more.  It was certainly a group run to remember and great getting to know a few more runners in the SEMR group.

Have a great day and....Keep Running!!!!