We drove our CR-V to the Elk City Lake campground near Independence, KS on Friday night. Adam told me that Independence, KS is close to the Ozarks. The densely packed deciduous trees, hills and river valleys were certainly good clues that the vast prairie lands that we had driven through en route from Wichita were coming to an end!
We slept in the CR-V under a clear sky with the tail gate open to provide room for our feet to stick out over the edge and woke up early Saturday morning to run!
The Flatrock trail was beautiful (follows the Elk City Lake and River) and reminded me of many trails that I have hiked back home in New York - rocky, hilly, twisting and, well, kind of hard! I did 15.5 miles (25K) which was fun and I enjoyed almost the whole run. The only part that I didn't enjoy so much was at the end when my stomach started acting strange. Oh, and it is also horribly painful to see a beautiful view and not stop to admire the handiwork of creation. I almost had to apologize to the vistas and promise in my spirit to return one day to give them proper homage.
I should say that "run" is a little bit of a tricky word to use in the context of the Flatrock trail. Yeah, you can kind of do something that looks like running...but most times, unless "running" is something that involves all four appendages, and not just two, "running" may better be replaced with words like "scrambling" or "stumbling" or "falling"!
I was back in time (3:51) to cheer for my professional athlete husband (who did double my distance) when he came across the finish line smiling! (See his report below.)
