Happy Birthday!!! | Tigger Mania

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A little while back, I was invited to a Birthday Party. As a rule, I don’t get invited to Birthday Parties much anymore. I think maybe, at 55, I’m past my prime? It’s kind of a shame because I really(!) like cake!

This Birthday Party was different. It was for a friend (who was throwing his own party~which is awesome!) who was turning 40. He is an Ultra Runner and a Triathlete. Serious athlete!!!

For his party, he asked some of us to meet at the trails and for each of us to run 40 miles. That, running the 40 miles, was the party!

What a great idea!!! I loved it!

Of course I said I’d be there~wouldn’t miss that for the world!!!

Yesterday morning, about 15 of us laced up our running shoes, and hit the trails at Butt’s Park.

This park and I go back a few years. This was where I ran my very first Ultra back in 2014. I’ll NEVER forget that race. It was a 50K called Big Butts. The name of the race alone sold me on it!

That day, the RD (Race Director) had set up a large dial thermometer so you could see the temps as you came through on your loops. On my second loop that goofy thermometer read 112* I remember thinking, “Phooey on that! I’m walking!!!” and I did! I walked almost that entire last loop…BUT, I finished that beast! *race swag from Big Butts~too funny!

I also said I’d never run there again.

So, here I was, 3 years later, running back on the trails at Butts Park.

“Never say never.”

We met up and started running at 6:00am. It wasn’t too warm. Low to mid 70’s with high humidity but not bad running weather. Due to the park getting a lot of rain, we had to change our route to a 5 mile loop that was less trail and more asphalt but it was do-able.

This was the start and finish (S/F) for the loops. It was nice and shaded.

A lot of it was in the sunshine and that got pretty warm.

This guy right here? He and I ran Big Butts together on that terribly hot day back in 2014. He was there yesterday and so we ran together most of the day. We hadn’t been able to run together since that race so we had a lot of catching up to do! He was one of the three people who were able to run all 40 miles!