Chris McDougall called me a hottie.

I was so stoked for this day!!!!! I got the kids to the sitter on time, picked up Holly, and we were set to get to the store right at the magic hour. It was perfect.

That was where the perfection ended... at least for a bit. After those moments I:

1- Learned that Chris McDougall's plane was delayed so he wasn't able to go on a run with us (MAJOR bummer!).
2- Got lost trying to find the trail. Let's be real here- the guys directions were about as clear as mud, and after calling the store and talking to not one, not even two, but three employees, we finally found the place.
3- Lost the key to my car in the bushes on the trail when I took my camera out of my spibelt.
4- Had serious IT band issues, bothering me clear up into my hip.

Me, on the left, and Holly on the right.

The trail was pretty, and if I were in proper running order, I would have loved it. Yesterday? Not so much.

The nice part is that the trouble stopped there.

Did you know that Chris McDougall is real? REAL! As in an eating, breathing, running human being! I read a lot of fiction, people, so to see a character out of a book was insane to me. Caballo Blanco, Arnulfo Quimere, Scott Jurek- they are all real too, in case you are wondering. I know because he talked about them and said they were real, and anything Chris McDougall says is the gospel truth.
The coolest part of the night?

A guy was in the audience that had literally run down a deer. Like, on his own two feet. I'm so mad that I don't remember his name, or the town in Utah that he grew up in, but he lived in this little town that had a cool tradition.

When he was a kid someone had attached a bell to a buck, and every year the locals respected the tradition of not shooting him during hunting season. The buck eventually got huge, and then he disappeared all together. As a 17 year old, he decided he wanted to let this tradition continue. What was he going to do about it? Well, catch one and attach a bell to it of course!

He told his Mom that he would be gone for about 5-6 hours, and he took off on foot. He scouted a group of deer and found a young buck and began to hunt. After 3 1/2 hours he was able to run it down. He took off his shoe laces to attach the bell to the deer (he said his Mom was so mad that he lost his shoe laces- ha), and then he tried to get the deer to run away. It wouldn't. It was flat out not going to move- no matter how much poking and prodding he did. He had exhausted the animal.

How awesome is that? Proof folks. We were born to run. It's in our will to survive.

The other cool thing?

When we were trying to get around the counter to take a picture with Chris, he said to a guy that was in our way, "Could you move so I can get a picture with these hotties?"

That's right. Chris McDougall called Holly and I hotties. It made my IT Band feel better.