Week 1
The first hike was along the Paint Creek Trail, which I've run and biked many times before. After the hike I had breakfast with a number of people in the group at a local family restaurant I had driven past many times but never eaten at. Being someone who works from home, it was nice to get out and socialize with others.
People met:
- Marcia: Former heart surgeon at Beaumont. Her father is suffering from a blood cancer at the moment.
- Kelly: U of M grad, nurse who works at the same hospital as my mother and knows her.
- Marnie: Graduated from U of M, spent 6 years in southern California, spent a bit of time in SF Bay Area for later job, now back in SE Detroit and works for Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
- Mandie: The east group hike leader. She's a fellow techie who's a business consultant at U of M. She's also into trail running and participated in a half Ironman triathlon last year.
Week 2
The second hike was at Stoney Creek Metro Park. Though I'm very familiar with the paved loop around the lake there, the hike was actually along one of the paths I've never been on near the nature center. I started the morning with a 5 mile run prior to the hike, as I'm also training for a few half marathons and I was planning on meeting up with some other people. Though my half marathon training schedule called for 6 miles, I only had time for 5 and I figured the hike counted for something. I was also up until 2 AM working on finishing up my donation letter, printing it out, printing the labels and stuffing the envelopes, so waking up early to run more was not going to happen.
After the run, I did a quick change from my wet running clothes into dry hiking clothes at the warming shelter and made a B-line for the trail head near the nature center. The trail was very snowing and mostly a single track. It was hard to carry on a conversation single file, so I decided to tromp through the unpacked snow most of the way. It was much like walking through loose sand at the beach... good exercise for my ankles.
People met:
- Holly: Local architect who focuses on sustainability and eco-friendly development. Her new office in Birmingham has insulation made of recycled and factory remnant blue-jean material! She's also participating in century ride for Team in Training and is an avid runner.
The third hike was a east/west group combined hike at Island Lake Recreation Area. I had been to the park once before back in college but had never hiked any of the trails. There had been a thaw-freeze cycle that week which made the trail head parking lot and hiking trail very slick. Due to the ice, our progress was slow going and as a group we weren't moving fast enough to finish the 5-mile loop in the 2 hours, so we turned around at the 2-mile / 1 hour mark and backtracked. It was a bit colder than I had anticipated and probably should have worn slightly warmer gloves, but my hands finally warmed up after the first hour. My upper body was surprisingly comfortable in just a medium-weight synthetic base layer and waterproof breathable shell.
After the hike I went out to lunch at a local coney island near the park with a few people from the hike and discussed our backgrounds and fund raising ideas. Again, it was great to get out of the house and socialize with like-minded people.
People met:
- Eli: Works in Ann Arbor at a medical device firm that makes devices used in open heart surgery. He's done a bit of canyoneering in souther California and will be summiting Mt Rainier a week before his RMNP hike.
- Eric: Account manager for a packaging company in Ann Arbor/Manchester area. Recently moved here from Kentucky.
- Liz: 9th grade teacher in Ypsilanti.
- Linda: Senior age psychologist who has participated in two century rides through Team in Training.
