Winton Woods 10-8-11 (Wk #12)

Crisp and colorful.  The autumn fog rose over Winton Wood's lake revealing 8 wolves eager to tackle the new venue.  Gracing the troupe was Long-Lost Lustig, after hiatus since week #2.  He was joined (more like dragged) by his dominant doberman.

Winton is 2,555 acres and exceeded our expectations (we were expecting parity to SW). We set out for 7-8 miles of paved paths, parcour, and off-road trails.  After a couple miles around the East side of the lake, including a steep dead-end hill, we gave up on finding the parcour course and headed to the West side for the off-road trails.  This looped us past our cars and prompted She-Wolf to later comment that it was a cruel faux finish.

But fortunately she powered on with the pack, up a gradual but lengthy incline to the Kingfisher nature trail.  RJ bolted through the woods and the rest followed.  The trail offered a good mix of stairs, bridges and roots for a 1.1 mile closed loop.  We then headed further up the main road's hill to the Great Oaks trail - a 0.7mile loop.  Bearing right, it offers more steps, roots and a deep dive down to a hairpin left at the stream bed.  Amazingly no one flew off the path, or at least not all the way.  More amazing is the fact that no one earned a Mayhem badge this day . . . were there not enough roots and bridges?

But fear not, Iron Wolf showed off his merit badge from last Saturday.  He earned it on/through the decrepit Caesar's Creek bridge between the Visitor Center and Day Lodge.  Kudos to the short-distance wolves who flipped it to prevent the official half marathoners from similar fate that day.  Current mayhem count:  3 Iron, 3 Mayhem, and 1-2 Safi?

After safely emerging from the woods, we headed downhill for the last paved mile+ to the cars where Iron had a wide variety on ice.  I've gotta believe we'll be seeing more of Lustig, as he was clearly impressed to see both 60 and 90 minute (his fav) Dog Fish IPAs included with the Fosters, Peroni, Sam Blackberry, Sam Black Lager, and Bud Ice.  But, the winning wolf of the day was clearly the doberman.  She looked as strong at the finish as the start.  Total of about 7-8miles, of which ~2 were off road.  Iron can comment on the official run time.

Wow Wael's Half Marathon - Caesars 10/1/11

Winning!  Wael embodied the wolf spirit yesterday, completing a half marathon through the rugged terrain, against the cold & windy conditions, and without walking or complaining.  Fantastic!  The sandbagger has never run above 7miles before.

This is a major milestone in the Safi-Hogben saga of one-upmanship in the battle of the fastest slowest big man of the pack.  After weeks of strong showings by Peter, we weren't sure whether Wael would answer.  Clearly he has.  Pete best rest-up from his wedding and be prepared to battle.

Saturday started early and cold at 8:30am (note the # of crossed arms in the pic).  Our group of 8 found themselves heading out from the Visitor Center ahead of an official half marathon event starting from the Beach at 9am.  Upon reaching the Lodge (2.5-3mi), the pack split in two with the 3 Winklers & Paul heading back and the Matts, Iron and Wael intent of completing the half marathon course.

The event coordinators had added helpful red flags along the course but the trail still had many branches obstructing passage.  So the Pack took on the challenge to clear what we could.

So we felt a clear conscience partaking of the drink stops.

The long course took us across creeks, over bridges, through the woods, and past 50 Springs.

We ended rather cold but found solace in some high alcohol content beers, followed by a trip to Chipotle.

PS - Another rivalry is coming to light.  I thought Dave was fond of his Iron handle, but he appears to be trying out for title of Mayhem again.  Recall, Dave was the first to fall during the initial Rowe Woods run.  During today's run, Iron fell through a decrepit wooden bridge and later was grabbed by a root.  Breaking his streak of falling ever other run, Malloy came away unscathed.