Fellowship of Idiots Run

This morning I woke up and looked at my watch. The display read 3:21 AM. I had a decision to make. I could turn off my 3:31 AM alarm, roll over, and go back to sleep.

Nay, I would rolled out of bed and started pulling together my stuff for the drive over to the Albemarle, NC for the Fellowship of the Idiots Run.

Yes, I returned to Albemarle this morning to run an unsanctioned, free event to the top of Morrow Mt and back. Round trip, we cover nearly 20 miles with plenty of climbing thrown in to keep all of us honest.

I have not run a road long run in more than 2 years so I wasn’t expected much in the way smoothness out of my body.

Pulling up to the YMCA a few minutes after 5 AM, there were cars and buses everywhere. The last time that I ran this event there may have been 20 maybe 30 runners. Today, they must have had 300+ runners. I am in awe of how this event has taken off. No doubt here all of the success can be attributed to Peter and his team. They have turned a long run with a couple of buddies in to something that people come from all over to do. They literally go above and beyond. Our event branded bibs even had our names on it.

After a few encouraging words from Peter, we began the parade of runners out of Albemarle under police escort at 5:30 AM. 

The line of head and tail lamps strung out both in front and behind me. At the edge of Albemarle, the police escort left us to our own devices.

The memories of my previous runs came back as the sting of the climbs and pounding of the downhills resonated up through my legs.

Plenty of people came over from Charlotte so I had plethora of chatting buddies.

Climbing to the Morrow Mt hurts no matter what the pace. I felt the wind a few times on the exposed curves but nothing else.

With no leaves on the trees, I could see for miles around. Catching my eye was the bobbing of head lamps making their way up the mountain like a snake slowly moving in the distance getting ever closer. This was really cool to see.

Most people think the tough part of this run is the climb up Morrow Mt. Indeed, this climb is hard. However, most people don’t realize that they are running a net downhill until they reach Morrow Mt. Thus, the return trip is a gradual climb back to Albemarle which in my opinion is tougher not just because it is uphill but also because the miles begin to stack up and fatigue builds in to the legs.

All that aside, running this event is a must do

So next January make sure to get signed up.

Kickin’ up the trail dust,

The Cool Down Runner