The 5th Annual Running of the Barkley 5Ks

Preamble:

Time for the yearly running of the Barlkey 5Ks at Black Widow which is not a 5K race but a series of loops with 7 check points hidden in the woods.  Its fun, trust me.  I’m not a professional.

Warm-O-Rama:

Nah.

The Thang:

At 6:55 we broke the crowd up into teams or 3 or 4 and explained the process.

There are 7 books hidden in the park.  Each team will run through the park to find the books, rip out the page that corresponds to the number the team has.  You can get to each checkpoint in any order or manner you choose.  The shortest distance between points for 1 lap is 1.2 miles.  That is the minimum. No one does the minimum.  After collecting the page there is an exercise associated with each checkpoint. Perform the exercise for that checkpoint before leaving for the next checkpoint. After collecting all 7 pages return to the flag to turn in your pages and go on to lap 2.  5 laps is a complete race.  Spoiler alert: no one has completed a complete race.  no one does this year, either.

Half the teams were directed to run the park counter clockwise, the other counter-clockwise.

7:00 and we are off.

Teams immediately found themselves in the brambles looking for clues. A headlamp comes in very handy as the sun is not yet up the first weekend in February at 7:00.  YHC stuck with the clockwise group. Having 18 PAX or so together to comb the woods helped eliminate large sections of brush quickly.

In February there really is not a lot to hide the books. After no too long the first book was found:  63 squats.  The next checkpoint is just up the trail and out onto a sort of knoll before a drop into the ravine. Note to self: hide a book in the ravine next year… This book was found but a critter found it first and ate through the plastic and eat the back cover and several pages off.  Lots of teeth marks. But enough was still there for the PAX to get their pages and 63 Merkins in.  Next most went for the Widowmaker hill and down the hill almost to the bottom where another book was hidden off the road behind a big cluster of trees.  10 Burpees to honor the Widowmaker hill.  Run back up and most headed over to the lake and walked the shore to fin the book with 63 single count lunges. On to either the playground area or the baseball fields. Both have a book.  One was 63 dips the other was 63 LBCs. The last checkpoint was between the turf soccer field and the big grass soccer field.  Behind a tree was the book and directions for 63 curls.  Just happens to be a rock pile right there.

The first losers were back at 7:36.  Four more laps in 24 minutes?

All the teams finished a lap before time was called at 8:00. No one finished 2 laps.

Fun morning, great weather.  Planning next year already!

Naked-Man Moleskin:

Thanks for celebrating my birthday with me this year! And congratulations to Pepper, Knight Rider, DeLorean and Matlock for completing the Ha-ha challenge even though I was out sick on Monday!