DAY 7 AND LEARNING A LESSON

Day 8 was spent with the family at the lake. I got to see a jelly fish everyone is talking about. The story goes that they arrived from China on the backs of birds. My bro-in-law, the fisherman says they are everywhere in the lake now.

Day 7:
We arrived home late from the lake and I was fretting for not having done anything physical yet ( today is usually a weight training day). Early evening Nicole phones to ask if I want a ride to our monday night run group which is to take place in a forest/park just outside the city limits.. The B man said it was fine so I immediately ditch dinner to put on shorts and head out the door. Upon arrival we see a trail in white chalk to follow to our group. By this time there are 4 of us running ( and N and B's blind dog) and there comes a point where Bob tells us we can go in the opposite direction as it is a short cut to our group. I look to see Nicole following him, but I choose to go in the other direction because the marks clearly show that this is the correct way. So basically I do the entire run with these 2 guys who are way faster than me. I sense they are competing with each other in speed and by God, I have to keep up because I have a brutal sense of direction and will surely get lost without them. I also have no cell phone. We finally reach our destination about 40 minutes later and I see Bob but don't notice Nicole is NOT with him. I was so out of breath and only focussed on beer ( that is our treat at the end of these runs) and tying to control my laboured breathing. Bob was also preoccupied and thought Nicole was with me. Shortly after he asks where Nicole is, and I freak out realizing that all this time he thinks she is with me, and I thought she was with him. A search party of 3 set out to find her and after what seems like a brutally long time she comes back alone with her blind dog and says she did not see the other 3 people who went to search for her. Nicole has a very poor sense of direction like myself and I am taking this really badly because I lost my friend in the woods and feel like the worst friend ever. She on the other hand seems calm and cool about the whole ordeal. I tell her this is a lesson and we must always carry a cell phone on us at all times ( she had hers. She is smarter than I am) and also must carry marking tape. She asks me why and I say this is because if we get lost in the woods we can mark the trees to help guide us. Someone in the group asks why do we do trail running seeing as we both have such a poor sense of direction. It is a good question. The mosquitos drive us all insane so so we head to a bar for the remainder of the visit. I have 3 1/2 beers while trying to recover from the evening and Nicole buys us both shooter. I get completely drunk as a result due to not having any dinner. I notice Nicole drinking more than I have ever seen her drink before and realize she is probably also freaked out by the whole ordeal although she is graceful about the whole thing. Thank goodness Bob was driving. My 7th final night of marathon training turned out to be a doozie.