The Mini Josh

By Carole Owens and John Hart

At 10:27 pm the night before, I received the following text about cancellation of the Josh Billings Run Aground from John Hart: "The JB has been cancelled. But...

Now our team is doing our own abbreviated version of the race. Bobby Flower and I are on the bikes, one against the other and handing off at Beachwood to the canoe.

The canoe, Jonathan Stern, is going around the lake once close to the shore so nobody gets struck by lightning and then the runner, Julia Bergman, is going to run around the lake from and back to Beachwood. I think everyone should know about this. Sleep well darling."

In fairness to the organizers of the Josh it did rain. In fact, it poured with thunder and lightning. My electricity was knocked out, and there were downed trees. On the other hand, it was all over before dawn.

Hart called after the race — he was pumped. It was great fun. Moreover, he heard there were 25 others who ran the race. Congratulations to all who ran the Run Aground.

A fun fact: this was Jonathan Stern's 42nd consecutive Josh including the "virtual Josh" during COVID. You can't keep a good village or a good villager down.