GFH3 Run #1,753; 21 May 2014

Zipperhead runs again!  Valiant does not, though the knee went well and looks fantastic (see photo here).  Phoenix Rising also eschewed running in favor of resting his newly-refurbished eyes.  Robin, the hip saga continuing, nonetheless joined Valiant and five other walkers for a tree tour of South Reston.  A complete accounting of the various body parts and their aches and surgeries would take us all week, so there it rests (as does Suck, Squeeze, Bang's foot in its orthopedic boot).

What with work and traffic and light conditions, Wednesdays can make a tough host.  With no one signed up as of Tuesday afternoon, I thought the Buffalo Wing Factory in Reston, where Nipples and Bite Me hosted last July, would make a good On In this week.  Too bad I know so little of the plentiful local trails!  With a few tips from Chip Off the Old Dick and the help of Google's map pedometer, I spent Tuesday evening plotting a tidy little course of about four miles, as you can see here.  So on Wednesday, 'hosting' was just a matter of warning the good people at the Factory and Pub to expect us, and strolling through the woods with a bag of flour and a few sticks of chalk.  Setting, at a dawdle, took 3.5 hours.  And then the heavens sundered, and the storm thundered down.

HEROES!!

Thankfully, Blow in the Hole had already volunteered to leave early and freshen up any marks that got washed away by the deluge, and when Paddle My Candee Ass and Big Balls on Deck elected to join her, we had sufficient reading glasses and map-reading skills to feel confident of success.  Another eleven runners and six walkers having gathered by 7:05, we had a tidy little hash ready to take on the overcast evening.

Sadly, only our valiant band of three completed the true trail.  Apparently the not-early contingent took so many false trails that most of them turned back at the 7-11, leaving Pickled Peter, Air Horn and Radar to carry on.  By the water stop, those three had over four miles on the GPSes and at least two more to go, and it was 8:00 and darkening fast.  No one remembers what happened next.

TOO DARK!!

But soon everyone (except BitH, PMCA and BBoD) was tucked up cozily at the Wing Pub, and snacking on pizza and wings and salads and IPAs with gusto.  Do we all agree that the waitstaff there handles our group admirably?  They seem completely unfazed by 17 separate checks for 22 people (reservation for 18 to 30) arriving at irregular intervals over the course of 45 minutes.  Bravo, Wing Factory! and brava, Nipples, for introducing us to this fine emporium.

Mufti started his roll, sotto voce, and sometime after calling PMCA but before BBoD and BitH, those wanderers arrived, with 6.5 miles on the GPS and some dark-ish patches on the t-shirts.  PP made it to 333 (the triple 3s!); the Mufti advised he play the lottery.  The Jazz Swinger admitted that she wouldn't even have been here if rehearsal hadn't been cancelled.  Radar called for volunteers to assist him as he hosts next week, and expressed hope that the pool would be up to 80 degrees, from its current, and disappointing, 78.  Nipples offered to take Gale's jacket home to her, or at least drop it off in the mailbox.  Everyone (I really hope) paid their separate checks, and went their separate ways.

FULL PINTS OF BEER!!

Thanks to BitH for the co-haring and for photos of two bucks on trail, which you can see via the photo link in paragraph one.