Running From The Wolves

Yesterday was my first race of the year, The Witchy Wolf Run. This was a 15 mile run through the Omer Plains, and consisted of single track, two track, undeveloped roads, and back roads. And the start time - 6:30pm. That's right, running in the dark.

I had never even heard of this race until a bunch of runners belonging to one of the groups I'm in, the RunningFit Ultra Marathoners (RUT) started emailing about it. It seemed that everyone had done it and, in fact was old hat to most of the RUTers; the fifth time for some of them! Every email made the race sound more and more exciting; "Last year, there were snowdrifts as high as my waist", "two years ago, it was below zero - at the start!", "I fell during the river crossing, and had to run the last five miles with a Popsicle stick as a foot". Yea, after hearing about everyone's experiences, I knew I had to do it. Not to mention, meeting up with the RUT group; most of whom we hadn't had the pleasure of seeing in person yet.

After Paula got home from work, we loaded the jeep and headed out for our 2 1/2 hour drive north to Omer, "the smallest town in Michigan", to register and get a feel for the area. The town turned out to be all of 380 people, 1.5 square miles, a town hall, a old court house, and Ma's Girls Cafe. But, the real attraction is the Omer Plains and the legend of the Witchy Wolves. Supposedly, there are spirit wolves that protect ancient Indian burial grounds within the plains. And anyone foolish enough to go wandering through the woods at night would be attacked. Now I'm not superstitious at all, but at about 3 miles in, no one in sight, pitch black, and nothing around me but trees and shadows made me a bit nervous.

Anyway, at about 6:00, everyone started piling into the court house for directions and other information. We all walked about a block down the street, got our head lamps out and listened to the director explain the route. It went something like, "wa, wa, wa, turn left, then turn right, wa, wa, wa, turn right...no, left, wa, wa, wa...get ready, get set, oh yea, don't fall in the river, GO!!!"

The group of about 100 people stretched out into the night with nothing but breathing behind and tail lights ahead. And, after about two hours of ice and snow, a river crossing, and two scratches from tree limbs, I saw the finish line.

Paula and I were among the first to cross the line, so we headed over to the court house to warm up with soup and chili and wait for the rest of the runners to ramble in. After a time, when everyone had finished and changed into warm clothing, the awards were handed out; a bunch of the RUTers received awards, including Paula for Overall Female and myself for 1st Place Male 35-43.

When all was over, we headed for our car for the drive home - just in time for the Witching hour. Never did see any wolves.