It Just Wouldn’t Be A Pancake Run Without Mr. Incredible On His Bike!

For the third straight year, Bill and I hosted the Miles’ Pancake Run.  For the third straight year we didn’t serve pancakes.

The annual Miles’ Blueberry Pancake Run started about twelve years ago in Maryland when Miles and his wife Jeani hosted a pancake brunch after one of Miles and his friends’ Saturday long runs.  They had so much fun they decided to make it an annual event and soon invited the Cruisers to Maryland to join them.  After a ten-mile run on the C&O Canal, we all headed to Miles’ house for a relaxing brunch.  Miles made blueberry pancakes for us, and we contributed with a bevy of carb-based dishes, fruit, Gatorade, and Bloody Marys. 

Three years ago we decided to move the event to Virginia after Miles and Jeani down-sized.  These days we run on the W&OD Trail instead of the C&O Canal, we enjoy reminiscing with friends in Bill’s and my back yard instead of Miles and Jeani’s backyard, but we still have the same great time with wonderful friends who we don’t see often enough.

In typical fashion, Miles made a new friend when he recruited a biker to take our picture before we headed out. 

I met Mr. Incredible through Miles several years ago.  He’s a great guy, but would you expect anything less from Mr. I?  We are lucky to have him join us with his bike and behemoth speakers most years for our pancake run.  Mr. Incredible also cheers runners on at the Marine Corps Marathon, the Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon, and several of the Rock ‘N’ Roll races.  

Before we even got on the trail, we saw my friend and early-morning training buddy Tracy coming in from her run.  After a quick picture, we were off!

With Mr. Incredible’s music accompanying us most of the way, the miles clicked along.  It was fun watching the reaction of other runners and bikers we met. 

After a few of my infamous sprint-ahead-photo-fartleks to capture some pictures and video along the trail, I was more than ready to settle into a conversation pace run and hand my camera off to Ravi and Vamshi. 

And before we knew it, eight hot and humid miles were behind us and it was time to head back home for brunch!

After changing out of our sweat soaked clothes and into dry ones, we dived into brunch.  Other than an egg and bacon casserole and some watermelon, all the dishes were delicious and heavy in the simple-carb department.  The fun thing about potluck is that you never know exactly what’s going to show up at the party. 

For post-run re-hydration we had water, chocolate milk, orange juice, and Gatorade.  Just for fun, we had mimosas and Josh’s Bloody Marys. 

Rabbit ears never get old, especially on Miles!

I’m already thinking ahead to next year’s pancake run, and have a couple of ideas floating around.  To read the 2013 and 2014 recaps, click on the blue links.

• Questions:
• Pancakes or waffles?
• Do you prefer Gatorade or chocolate milk as a recovery drink?
• Who raced this weekend?