FMO Trail Run

FMO Trail Run by tracyrunning at Garmin Connect - Details

My running club has a group of trail runners who meet every Sunday morning to run a variety of distances based on who shows up.

I love these folks. No one is too fast or slow, and no one is left behind.

Sunday was Father's Day and 4 years ago they began the tradition of a Father's Day picnic following their run. One of the guys lives near the trail so he and his wife host it. It has morphed into Fathers, Mothers and Others (aka FMO) so that everyone who wanted to come out would feel welcome to.

This is the first year I was able to make it, and I'm so glad I did! [I don't usually get to run with them because I have church at 10 and they don't start until 8. I'd have to hustle through my run, shower and then hustle to church. Kinda defeats the purpose of a fun, relaxing trail run.]

Because of the picnic I opted to miss church so I could run and enjoy. Since it was Father's Day, I took Ella and Hank with me so Bill had 2 fewer peeps to keep track of.

After returning from the eastern shore really late Saturday night, we dragged ourselves out of bed bright and early and headed out for our adventure. Our host's teenagers babysat the 4 kids who came. So very nice of them!!

I have to admit that the trail system at this park is a little confusing to me so I wouldn't feel comfortable going up there on my own. But the trails have cool names like

Huggy Bear (named for the guy who blazed it),

Stoner Rd (very rocky),

Lawmower (has a pile of abandoned lawnmowers next it),

and Volkswagon (there's a rusted out Volkswagon at the top of the hill).

We had 3 groups running 5, 8, and 11 miles. I opted for the 5 mile group because I ran 8 Saturday morning and didn't want to push my luck.

We ran a nice easy pace and enjoyed chatting along the way. One of the men pointed out a small American Chestnut tree. I'm a dork so I thought that was really cool. He said that once they reach a certain size they unfortunately develop the blight and die. But it's still nice to see them.

here we are on the Volkswagon trail

I'm in white next to the kid in red

We stopped at major turns and waited for everyone, but no one was in a big rush. It was really about being out there and enjoying the day. My kind of crowd!

These trails are pretty tough especially for a noob like me. Lots of rocks and roots to navigate and quite a few logs to climb over. There are even some stream crossings. I don't know how people can run 'head up' on trails like this but they do! I stumbled a few times and came really, really close to eating it once but amazingly stayed on my feet. I think it adds to fun and excitement of the run though.

When we got back, they fired up the grills and we all enjoyed yummy burgers and dogs along with beer (they're trail runners afterall!). I had my first Mike's Hard Limeade. Yum and more yum. I need to get some of that!

And then we headed home so I could take the kids to the pool while Bill had some downtime at home.  All in all it was an excellent day!