Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Spreading the Joy


OK, I admit it. It was fun to work the aid station at the PCT 50miler/50 K run. I think that in part it was because of the great people crewing with me. Michelle and I were the coco”NUTS” babes, Steve and Eric were there helping for the morning and then swept out of site to sweep the trail. We also shared our duties with Craig, our fearless leader, his wife Lori, Megan and her husband and Brian (I think) All together there were three massage practitioners (well two were therapist because that is what they call us in Oregon) and I think I was the only non-runner.

We were a Hawaiian themed aid station, so that explains the coconut bras and grass skirts. Most everyone else wore Hawaiian shirts and leis. The other Lori is half Hawaiian and she had beautiful music that we swayed our hips to. She could hula, we pretended. We also had to make a few runs into town to get some supplies. We spread the joy of the coco”NUTS” there.

I normally am pretty reserved (scared to look foolish), so I was quite proud of Michelle and myself that we went into town in our outfits. At first I was muttering to myself “I don’t know these people, I will never see them again”, but with Michelle by my side I soon was laughing at the responses and then forgetting that we actually looked different. It’s all about growth. We also talked the entire day and “bonded” like the YaYa Sisters.

We had a great weekend. We got to see my folks for a few minutes when we dropped Puck off, and have lunch with them when we picked Puck up. And we got spent the weekend with two fabulous people. We laughed a lot. Steve can be very silly when he is around Eric and Michelle tells me that is the way he always is out on runs. Who knew, no wonder he likes to be out there, it is very freeing to be silly.

It is amazing to see the different personalities of the runners. I didn’t know anyone so I had no history of who they were, how many runs they had done, how good they were. They were all just people and it was great.

Be Free,
Lorri

4 comments:

Backofpack said...

I hope your week is going smoothly, know what I mean?

It was a great weekend. Thanks for sharing it with us, and thanks for hosting us in the deluxe trailer - I much preferred it to our tent!

See you tomorrow night at coffee.

Journey to a Centum said...

I'm fairly certain that you will be able to charge for your aid station services next year. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if you don't start getting requests from other RD's across the country to work thier aid stations. Next thing we know you will be running with the likes of Paris Hilton. Heck you already have the little dog!

Steve and I click on a level that allows us to just enjoy the moment. Even if that moment involves a steep hill at mile 48 during an ultra. It was fun to run a trail in Oregon that Steve had not been on.

Thanks again for providing the posh digs for our PCT adventure. Glad you were able to form a ya ya bond with Michelle.

Olga said...

Yes, and I am requesting:) Thanks, Lorri! Awesome spirit, and great help!

Unknown said...

It was great that you were able to make the trip together and share in some of the joy and craziness that some of us are driven and obsessed with. Maybe I will be able to recruit you in May for the Tacoma City Marathon and you can set up an aid station with the same theme and wear the coco"Nuts" there as well:) Of course you might actually see people you know so maybe you won't be so comfortable with that. I hope you have/had a wonderful time camping.