midnight running and the man

Since Da'Hitman was laying low due to a misunderstanding involving an elephant, dogfishhead ale, and some peanut butter, I headed out of town to take the heat off. Miss Merigayle is going to run her first 100 miler at Umstead this year, so it was a perfect weekend to get some midnight running in.I picked up Down and Durty and we headed off to the wilds of Valley Forge PA. After a brief stop at Dick's for some yaktraks and hand/toe warmers, we enjoyed stories and some back roads navigation before arriving at the meeting place of the top secret midnight run. After watering some of the local fauna, I returned to the car and we waited for the rest of our band of misfit runners to arrive. Low and Behold, The Local Man AKA the 5-0 showed up, bringing Ranger Rick along. As we all know, RR likes to bust slugs more than anything else. After some quick thinking, Down and Durty and I did our best innocent routine and got directions back to 202 South. RR and the 5-0 did take my plates, registration, and license number down, most likely to add to the Most Wanted Slug list. Rest assured Da' Hitman is still # 1 until this elephant thing gets resolved. We quickly regrouped, called our partners in midnight running crime, and went with plan B. At least RR didn't catch me destroying parK property when I was watering the trees.
After meeting up at the second top secret location, an intrepid group of runners introduced each other and set out for the brisk midnight run. In attendance were Meri, Altoids, Mr. Altoids, Quevin, The mighty-E who runs like the wind, K-man who is also a fast runner, The amazing R who can conduct business and run really fast, and the G-man, not the government type, but another fast runner. We set off (minus G-man at the time) and the speed demons were off. The night was crisp, in the mid-20s, no wind, with good visibility. I quickly peeled off for another watering trip and caught back up with Down and Durty and Quevin, who were on pokey catching duty. The trail was a little icy at places, but overall was pretty clear/snowpacked. Mr. Altoids ran with me for good bit of the night and we had great conversations. It seems that discussing life and philosophy is just something for which midnight trail runs were made.
After completeing a few loops, Altoids and Mr. Altoids retired after a busy weekend for some much deserved sleep. I decided to walk for a little while to save the leg a bit. It was my first big long run since JFK and my stress fracture diagnosis. I can say that I am returning to my former pokey self and will be in fine pokey shape by RBC. I walked at a good clip, would catch up with the Meri band of runners and run back on the loop with them. The last two loops were really great and I had some much fun laughing and joking with everyone. Meri was all smiles and fun, I kow she is going to do so great at Umstead.
When the run was finished, Down and Durty and I made our way to a local Diner for some much needed breakfast. After a large breakfast and half a cannoli each, we drove back to the DE so D&D could pick up his car and we could both make it to our respective homes for some shut-eye.
The midnight run was complete fun and I was happy to distract Ranger Rick so Da' Hitman could finish installing the Slug Traps and quicksand pits to the RBC course.

Keep Smilin'
Pokey Slug

ps- Just for the record, it was crunchy peanut butter and the elephant was not harmed.