Oconomowoc, WI

Running Time: 50:47 + 2:00 in hotel stairwell

Drove over to the Oconomowoc High School track, and there was some kind of athletic event or practice going on, so I settled for a rectangular loop near the hotel, Blue Ribbon Circle. I would not say it was circular. Traffic was minimal, and the route was surrounded by fields, so running one day on pavement was not going to kill me.

I cut through a parking lot and down a new dead-end access road, where I saw a deer, and then I found a wood-chip trail around a company called Sentry, and I settled there for most of the run. That is, until the storm hit.

I was about 2/3 of the way into the run when I got a phone notification that violent thunderstorms were in the vicinity. I could see dark clouds, but they did not look menacing.

Earlier in the day, one of my sales stops was a place called DD Sling & Supply. It looked like just a big old house with a small house across the driveway. I tried the small house first, and there was a crew sewing slings inside. Then I solved the labyrinthe of passageways in the big house to find the office, where I talked to Andy, one of the owners.

He showed me around the building. We went through a closet door in the basement, and it opened into a giant room where they made cable slings. Turns out the property was an old fox farm, which is why they could run a business in a rural residential area. There were rooms and stairways and hallways and chutes all through this old house.

About five minutes before the run was scheduled to end, the winds hit. It was strong enough to prompt me to get off the trail and back onto the loop headed back to the hotel. Then the thunder and lightning started. I was a little concerned with a quarter-mile to go. I finished the base time in the parking lot and then did my kick on the stairwell inside.

When the rain hit, it was impressive. And it lasted almost an hour.

Inconsistent run, but it was nice to be outside and feel the wind in my hair, even if there was a danger of being electrocuted.