Shenandoah River Front Run

Ran the Shenandoah River Front Run, one of my favorite races, at 7:30 a.m. This time I couldn't smell the river as I ran past, but seeing campsites alongside the road and seeing the river glimmer made me homesick for the Mississippi and the "Waupsi" in Iowa. It also made me anxious for a planned camping trip with my bros and sis, and their families. I am as excited as a kid during the last week of school.

Anticipation was reigned in, however, when Andi suggested breakfast after the race. And that is how I and five other friends came to be gathered around a table at the Smokin' Pig in Elkton talking about, among other things, Iowa, rivers and tornadoes.

George is headed for Iowa City and the University next week, he said. Joe has lived in the Midwest and knows the heat and storms that threaten and torment the people there in the late spring and summer. Storms, he says, that have been more frequent of late here in Virginia, though not as violent as the Midwest storms.

And I told the story of my midnight ride in a tent camper during a tornado in Iowa. Then I tried to grab the girls from the bunk where they slept, but they were bouncing around like popcorn. Somehow they slept through the commotion. The roof of the tent camper was peeled back. And the following morning we learned the camper was about two feet from where it had been parked the day before.

The possibility of 100 degree temperatures, high humidity and thunder storms hasn't dampened my excitement or anticipation for another McCracken camp out. There will be lots of laughter, bonfires, good food and conversation.

Conversation just as good as the one at the Smokin' Pig where friends who've run a lot of miles together stopped to sit a spell and get to know each other just a bit better than before.