I miss the trail!

Today's regularly scheduled Weekend Wrap Up will be posted tomorrow! I have off for MLK day, so it is technically still my weekend!

Also, before I being, I want to give a HUGE congratulations to Heather @ Girl Goes Running who PR'ed in the half marathon yesterday. Also, Suzy @ The Runs ran a marathon with her husband yesterday... the day after she won first female in a 5k! Congratulations, ladies! And be sure to head over to their blogs and check out their race recaps!

Pretty much! I am terrified of snakes!

On Saturday, Paul and I actually did something. Instead of just laying around the house and "freelancing" (doing whatever we want) or "freelisting" (doing whatever we want but also in the process checking things of our to do list), we got our butts out of bed and enjoyed the world that exists outside our little home.

We hopped on 81 North and headed to Funck's Restaurant in Fort Indian Town Gap. I have seen signs for this place for years but had never been there. It was very nice inside- not bright and glaring diner but warm and inviting. 

I had eggs over easy with toast and a huge plate of bacon. Paul had a bacon and cheese omelette. I stole some of his home fries and orange juice.

And there was coffee, Lots and lots of coffee!

Literally right beside the restaurant was Fort Indiantown Gap National Cemetery. That is where my Uncle Jack, who passed away in November, is buried. I didn't know how close we were going to be to the cemetery, but when we realized it was literally right there, we knew we had to stop and see Uncle Jack. It took Paul a few minutes, but he figured out where in the cemetery he was buried as well as a map of the grounds. (The place is huge, you have to know where you are going. Thank goodness one of us has a smartphone!)

The entire premises was nice and well kept. It did not take us long to find his grave. There were wreaths on every grave, which I thought was very nice.

After we paid our respects to Uncle Jack, we headed to Swatara State Park, which was only about 10 minutes away. This park has (among other things) a series of mountain biking trails that are arranged in very convenient loops. Years ago, I used to run at this park all the time with my other trail running friends. It is beautiful, and I always considered it one of my favorite places to run.

Isn't it awesome!?

When we pulled into the parking area, there were mountain bikers getting ready to take off. They had a cute dog with them. They were all donned in bright orange vests. I remembered that it is still hunting season and with it being a Saturday, there could be hunters out there. Luckily, I had on a pink jacket with my bright yellow Boston shirt underneath. Paul was in all dark colors, but we'd be chatting the entire hike, and I knew my piercing voice would echo through the woods and we would not be mistaken for deer or whatever the hell is in season right now.

Unfortunately, before we took off, a hunter approached us to tell us he lost his beagle a couple hours ago (the dog saw a deer and chased after it) and that if we saw it, would we give him a call? This obviously devastated me and I was hoping with all my heart we would find the dog during our hike and be able to return it to it's owner. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

I am not a mountain biker, so I can't describe the difficulty of the trails from a biking standpoint, but from a hiking/running standpoint, they are easy. Not too many hills and no ankle twisting rocks. I hike a bit faster than Paul, but I tried to reign it in a bit. At one point he took a break so I ran a one mile loop without him. It felt SO GOOD to fly through the woods!

Where's Megan!?

We ended up hiking 4 miles and I ran 1 mile. There are three loops that hook up with the main parking lot, and after 2 miles, I urged Paul to do the last loop. I thought it would only be a mile like the other loops. Wrong. It was 2 miles. We were really tired and couldn't wait to be done! Another reason we couldn't wait to be done was because when there was about a mile left, we started to hear lots of gunshots. It really freaked me out. I was convinced I was going to have my brains blown out right there on the trail from some stray bullet. I don't trust people at all. I took off my coat to display my bright orange shirt and Paul and I talked loudly. 

Unfortunately, it sounded like we were walking toward the gunshots. And we were. We eventually came upon the hunters that were walking through the woods shooting at who knows what. I hate guns and I hate hunters because they really cramp my style when I trail run. Oh, and I hate people that post pictures of dead deer on Facebook. If you are from Pennsylvania, you know what I am talking about.

Despite the annoying hunters, I really want to go back to Swatara and run (perhaps on a Sunday!?), but I am weary of doing it alone. So I need friends! Who wants to run at Swatara with me!?  I miss running trail so much. I am sick of my neighborhood.

Oh, I forgot to mention that when I got home from work on Friday, Paul had shaved his head! He had huge patches falling out, so the head shave was past due. I love it!

Do you have a favorite trail?

Ever have any scary run ins with hunters?

What is your favorite breakfast to get at a diner?