Where the Blacktop Ends

~75 mins.
10 miles

Despite not getting to bed until 2:00 this morning, several intrepid members of our party reconvened at the hotel-motel-Holiday Inn at 7:30 on Sunday for runs of various distances. Scotty and Jordan planned to do 16, as did Jilane (although her plans changed significantly when she chose to count the 3.75 miles she ran back from the bar the previous evening toward today's mileage). Aja and Kristi were looking for 10, and I was good with 10-12 as well, so without further ado we set off in search of some country roads.

After pounding the pavement and dodging some Sunday morning (read: church-bound) traffic for two miles, the road gave way from asphalt to soft, smooth, almost clay-like dirt. Within minutes we had nothing but cornfields to our left and amber waves of grain to our right; I couldn't have painted a truer picture of rural Oklahoma if I'd tried. The scenery was stunning in its simplicity, and for miles upon miles our only companions were of the bovine variety. That said, as the mileage crept up the temperature gauge followed, and just before the girls' 5-mile turnaround we found ourselves in desperate need of water. Luckily we spotted a large farmhouse under renovation just off our dirt path and decided to take a peek-a-loo around the grounds in hopes of finding a water hose. We made it no more than 20 yards onto the property before three large, angry and surprisingly agile canines came bursting forth from behind the house, no doubt with the intent of chasing us down and mauling us until we were dead. Let's just say I don't think any of us have sprinted as fast in recent track workouts as we did in the next 30 seconds, and if it weren't for the electric fence on the edge of the property I doubt I would be typing this today.

By comparison, the rest of the run was fairly uneventful. We finally found that water hose around mile eight at a church/school on the edge of town, and at this point our minds were focused completely on the Holiday Inn pool and a few rounds of apple juice from the continental breakfast. To be honest, I still felt relatively fresh and would've liked to add on a few more miles, but by the time we made it back to the hotel I was content to rest and relax while we waited for the boys. Overall, this run was great fun with good company and the perfect way to cap off our stay in Enid, America.