RD Jim's Report

    Training for this year's event hasn't been easy.  Seems every time I tried to get in a long run, the heat and humidity would kick my butt and stop me short of my day's goal.  I did manage to get one 28 miler in on a relatively cool day (mid 70's).  But during all those hot runs when I just couldn't go on, I kept thinking about Wakely and what would happen if it were that hot on July 19th.
"Some one is going to drop!" 
    Fast forward to Wakely week.  I arrived at the dam on Sunday, and set up camp in the pouring rain.  Friday came quickly and our Professional Camp Counselors were all on hand eagerly preparing for the onslaught of campers who decided to stay at the dam despite my warnings that campsites would be full well before Friday.  But we crammed everyone onto "our" side of the dam and no one complained... yet.  I decided to hit the cot around 10PM so I would have plenty of time to stare at my watch every 15 minutes waiting for the 3:30AM alarm.  I think I did manage to doze off once or twice but it was anything but a good night's sleep.  It was hot and sticky.  Around 12:30AM some nice young girls were having a loud conversation on the dam and after a few minutes of that, I politely asked them to lower their voices for the sake of the sleeping campers... and then I killed them.  
    3:30AM finally arrived and I turned off my alarm without hearing a second beep.  The bus arrived at 3:50AM - earlier than expected but at least it's here.  It was 70 degrees in Indian Lake at 5:00AM - "This was not good," I thought.  "Some one is going to drop." 

Our campers arrived at Piseco fresh from their bus ride and posed patiently for pictures.

After a few brief instructions, our campers marched off to start their day at Camp Wakely.

Fortunately, it never got "that" hot and no one dropped - but there was blood.

  Look for details on the Wakely Peace Rally - July 18th, 2009.