Cobie's Good Friday Adventure...

Christine wanted to know how my Good Friday adventure turned out.  I had intended to run/hike the Kettle 100 route for as long as I could manage, but had no idea how long that might be.  However, I ended up going with a friend, who doesn't run, and we went in one car.  I knew I'd have to drive back to Milwaukee, and a return to keep going through the night was doubtful.  A gamble was in order so that it would still be an adventure.

I decided to travel the 26 miles to Rice Lake and back in KSO's for better, or for worse.

It was for worse, but not nearly as bad as it could have been.  I bashed my left little toe against a rock that was covered by leaves pretty good 45 minutes into the hike.  However, I kept going.  Did half a dozen stair repeats on the hill overlooking Rice Lake, after bashing it once more.  Note (in above photo) that I have a sandwich in one hand, and an extra on the ready in the other hand.  I don't have any idea why... except that it never occurred to me to put them down to do the stair repeats.

At Rice Lake I took off my shoe, splashed in the cold water to reduce the swelling a little, and then took a picture. Nice, eh?  My little toe is usually not that fat. 

On the return my friend ran out of water.  No problem, I brought 5 liters, and I'm in okay shape to deal with a little dehydration.  However, the liter I had stashed just before HWY 12 had been found and nearly emptied by someone.  Oops!  So I went almost completely without fluids for the rest of the hike.  We did have my 5th liter stashed on the north side of La Grange lake, and fortunately that one was untouched, else we might have had to shorten our endeavor.

But it was a beautiful hike, even though I've hiked it before, or maybe because of that?  I have this thing for moss, lichen, fungi, and toadstools, so I visited all the usual suspects to see how they were doing.  Weird, I know.  I have some pictures of my favorite in the area on my facebook page, friend me if you want to see?

Of course on the return I bashed my toe one more time.  What I want to know is: why always the &*$%# left toe???  Why couldn't the pain be spread a little more evenly?  I loved the feel of the ground, and the increased control, but not the danger lurking under the leaves.  If only they made KSO's with a shield to protect my left toe!

We did the hike in 10 hours, my friend was in a lot of pain, very dehydrated, but made it the entire distance, and I was very proud.  My legs were fine, my feet were sore (previous longest in KSO's was a 2.5 hour half marathon), and my left pinky toe hurt like a mother.  But it wasn't so bad, not really.  So I went to the lakefront and ran a slow 8 miles with my wife.  Then I called it a day.