The cost of our Run + Refresh Retreat in Ogden is about to rise by $50 on November 1. You know you want to come meet some new BRFs and get your run on. Commit today and save yourself a little dough!

In case you are looking for a spooky (or not-so-spooky) costume, check out our past Halloween posts. But if you’d like to feel a little shiver up your spine, here’s a little TMI mystery. The details have been changed to protect the easily embarrassed….

It was a dark and stormy afternoon. I had just hit the 4-mile mark on my standard long run route and rounded the corner into the cemetery. It’s a great place to run, frankly. Quiet, for the most part, and full of interesting names and decorations. One of the resident’s family members put a rubber carp (or trout, maybe? I’m not an ichthyologist.) on his plot in lieu of flowers. Some graves were adorned with wind-driven whirligigs or the occasional plastic flower.

But there was nothing on Lolo’s grave.

I’ve run past her final resting place several dozen times. It’s a lovely spot under a tree, so she has shade in the summer, brilliant crimson leaves in the fall, and thin sunshine in the winter. On her headstone, I’ve left little stones and the occasional penny or nickel I’ve found on nearby sidewalks. They are always gone by my next long run, carried off by birds or kids or …. well. We can’t say for certain, can we?

The nearby residents, however, might be jealous of my affection for Lolo. And here is how I know.

A couple of months ago, on that dark and stormy afternoon, a rounded Lolo’s marker, took two more steps, and my gut became one giant cramp, the type that portends nothing good is about to happen. I dropped down to a clenched walk and, miraculously, made it to a nearby fast food emporium before the worst happened.

Weird, I thought. Then thought nothing of it, until it happened again the next week. And two weeks after that. I was not so lucky that last time and the result was TMMI = Too Much Messy Information.

I’ve switched energy gels. I’ve taken a hard look at my diet. But one factor remains the same: that spot just past Lolo’s grave. I’ve angered the residents and my gut bears their curse.

Today is Halloween, and my run will take me by that very spot. Should I pack treats to leave behind? Or hope an adult diaper won’t chafe? Or carry an extra treat bucket, just in case?