Looking for Inspiration in all the right places

"Walk far enough, life gets simple.. Life gets simple enough, things start to make sense.''  Chris Douglass 

If you want to find a good healthy dose of inspiration, the Bradbury Trail Running Series is a good place to start.

Today we ran the Bradbury Scuffle.  The crowd was sell out plus.  The race is described as a mix of single and double-track trails with a few rolling hills, a great introduction to Maine trail running. Ian, dedicates, this race to CHRIS DOUGLASS. Ian in his pre-race dedication today moved the crowd as he described Chris,  a Trail Monster runner and adventurer who’s life ended too soon.  Since the start of the series, I've been moved and inspired by stories of Chris and by sharing time with Linda, Jerry and Bethany.  Amazing people.

The race didn't start until 11, we slept in a little later than usual.  As we drank our coffee, George was reading and I was checking FB.   George went out to water the garden and I decided for fun I would check last year's results, to figure out what I might want to do for a time.  At this time I realized, the race started at 9.  I ran outside and told George, oops I made a slight error in the start time.  Since it was now after 7 and Bradbury is a long drive for us, we dressed in just a few minutes, threw some things including trail shoes in a bag and off we were.

As we headed to Bradbury, we saw Dave who is training for VC100 running to the race.  We like everyone else it seemed stopped to offer him a ride.  He refused the offers, it was part of his training. Amazingly inspiring and this was before the race.

We got to Bradbury, the place just seemed to be exploding with energy. I picked up our numbers as George got his shoes on.

We gathered at the start.  So many familar, excited and happy faces.  The crowd included many talented and inspiring trail runners including the Trail Monsters who are running the VT100, pacing and crewing next weekend.  Ian looking beyond ready for the VT100, gave the pre-race instructions and moving dedication and we were off.  I settled in my usual back of the pack and found myself behind Jerry.   I mentioned to Jerry, I'd like to hang with him as best I can.  He's a much better runner than I am, he mentioned because of some health issues recently, he was looking to just finish. We moved along and I even think we were quicker during the second part of the race.  At one point, we thought we went off course.  I ran a bit ahead to look for a marker.  I saw one, we were still on course.   I must say, the race today was the most inspiring and fun I've had trail running.  Although the day was quite warm, I never once was not in the moment moving along and inspired with each step.  I honestly have no idea what my time was, and may never look, but was pleased to finish with Jerry.  Although, he really had much more than me at the end and actually waited for me at one point, we finished together.

Ian, at the end of the Scuffle awards someone on the course the Chris Douglass award.  It's awarded to someone who shares the spirit, adventure and the love of trail running like Chris.  That award this year went to Jerry and feel honored to have run with him today.

I learned alot today about running and life from someone who knows alot about both and it all seemed simple and clear, one foot in front of the other.

Thanks to Ian and all the volunteers for a great day. Thanks Linda for the ice cold watermelon at the end. The tee shirts as always for the Bradbury series both dirt and snow, awesome.

 Looking for a dose of inspiration?  There are a limited number of spots left for the the next two races in the series so sign up or read this story, http://www.theforecaster.net/news/print/2012/07/09/unsung-hero-jerry-levasseur-brunswick-steeled-fire/129249 . I've never seen the Forcaster in our area.  As we quickly ran into Hannaford on our way home, there it was right when I walked in.

Have a great day!

Keep dreaming!!