The Longest 15 Miles and The "Crick" Icebath.

The alarm goes off at 3AM. That's OK because I'm already awake. I've been having a rough time with insomnia lately but it's more than that, I'm going back to Oil Creek after seven long months and I'm very excited. I'm in great shape. I've been cross-training and I figure I'm going to show this trail what Gale is made of! I eat my strange concoctions of food and text Julie. Soon I'm off to Stow to meet Julie and start our adventure.

We pull into the parking lot at Petroleum Center in Oil Creek State Park with plenty of time to spare. We said our "hello's" to people we hadn't seen in a long time and soon we were off. Julie and I decided to hit the restroom one last time so we were pulling up the rear (as usual). The group was walking to the trail head so we ran to catch up. That would be the last time we would ever see most of them! 

As the group pulled further and further away, Julie and I managed to get to the top of the first hill. Everyone was gone except a few walkers that were behind us. I didn't care. I was back at the site of my first ultra run, I was one with nature, I was happy! We jogged and walked along the familiar trails. My heart was full. We were running the section where I got hurt so badly during my ultra the following year, that I was forced to walk the entire last half of the race, fifteen miles. Julie and I talked and talked, we talked of things going on in our lives and reminisced. A couple of the walkers passed us (really)!! The girl had a small sock money hanging off of her pack. I wanted one!! Julie said if I got one, it could be my "crack monkey". You see, I've been trying so many things to make me a faster, better runner that once she said "you'd try crack if it would make you faster". That wasn't too far from the truth. Being my running partner for about six years, I supposed she knows me about as well as anyone! She saw me through the hell of my alcohol addiction and back out.

Soon it was apparent that we were going to be way off of our expected finish time of five hours. We hadn't run in a long time, though. By this time we had been through so many mud holes that our feet were just torn up. It was getting hot as well. We wondered if the picnic that had been planned for after the run would even be still going on.

The last five miles were pure hell. My feet were screaming, my back was hurting, and I wasn't having a real good time anymore. It was at this point that we realized it was going to take us longer than six hours to finish this thing, really!! Now, I had done "Forget the PR" at Mohican about a month before. That bad boy was seventeen miles and I finished it in 5:50. How could this be taking us this long?

We finally come out on the dirt road that would take us back to the parking lot and picnic site. I was so happy and my feet were screaming and I was starving. Almost immediately an SUV pulls up and it's Katie and Adam Peterson, God bless their souls! They pick us up and I ask is the picnic is still going on. They say "no, but there is a little food left". At this point, I really don't care as I'm just loving the fact that I'm not walking anymore.

As we pull up to the parking lot, Adam asks if we want to go into the "crick". I forgot that they pronounce creek, crick in Pennsylvania. I immediately say, "YES"! I realize that this is going to be my first impromptu ice bath! They show us where to get in and I am in, in a flash. Julie joins we. We laugh and scream together but I know my legs will be happy tomorrow. As I write this at 4AM on Sunday (insomnia), I can tell you that my legs feel better than they ever have after an event like that! I'm a believer!

As we drive home, I realize that although this run/hike took way longer than expected, I truly had a great time. Julie and I shared a lot during those hours and I learned, first hand, about the icebath. Thanks, Lee and Gabe! They swear by it, and now I do. It's a shame because I'm sure it's way less fun in a bathtub than sitting on a rock in a "crick" in beautiful Oil Creek State Park.