Kittatinny State Park

Salt Shaker Season 2014 Comes to an End

The Salt Shaker Trail Running Club ran its 31st and last official Tuesday night run of the 2014 season, with a short but sweet 2-mile run in and out the “hard way,” followed by the usual good times at our favorite Gastropub – Salt! A lot has happened since our first official Tuesday night run of the 2014 season on March 11th. Things started wet and cold – Shakers spent the first few weeks running through wet sloppy slush or slippery ice. Since then we’ve seen lots of good times, a LOT of hard miles, a little hard work, and a few injuries along the way.

The Salt Shaker Trail Running Club was started by Robert Davidson 5 years ago in Salt Gastropub with just a few friends that wanted to run in the woods and drink beer. Our runs are usually between 3 to 8 miles depending on the available light, averaging about 40 runners on each run – the biggest Tuesday night run this year saw 59 runners hit the trail! The Salt Shaker Trail Running Club has about 60 active members, and over 220 followers on Facebook. We’ve grown a lot since that first Tuesday night 5 years ago.

The Salt Shaker Trail Running Club is all about communing with people and nature and just enjoying a good run, but we also did a lot this season to help raise money for the Sussex County Women’s Forum Friend2Friend Free Mammography Program.

Shakers participate in 3 trail runs annually hosted by Friend2Friend at Kittatinny Valley State Park – Summer Solstice 5 mile Trail Run, Hot Chili 8 mile trail run, and the Thunder Run 13 mile trail run. We also raised money having fun at Jerry Daze, where we raffled off a great picture of Jerry Garcia. Brizstock, planned and hosted by the gracious Robbie and Dana Davidson, is a huge end of season celebration and fund raiser for Friend2Friend complete with bands, a Tricky Tray and raffle. This year’s raffle winner won an electric guitar signed by Dave Matthews! We ended the season with a “Dining to Donate” event at Krough’s in Sparta on 10/5 where a portion of all bills were donated to Friend2Friend. This year, the Salt Shaker Running Club raised over $11,000 for Friend2Friend! We’ll present our check at the Hot Chili Run on 10/19.

A Few Highlights from 2014….

• While things were warming up back in March, Robert Davidson made his fame on WRNJ’s “Behind the Headlines” radio show, where Davidson and others were interviewed on the issues of and opportunities for running in northern NJ. You can hear the full program on YouTube if you missed it!
• In between all the regular Tuesday night runs, Shakers turned out in force for lots of trail runs, road runs, marathons and ultra runs – 1st Muddy Quarter Marathon Relay, NJ Marathon, Summer Solstice, Running with the Devil, Wildcat Ridge Romp, Vermont 50 mile run, and Pfalz Point to name a few.











• Shakers leave no man (or woman) behind; we carried out one of our own over 2 miles of technical trail terrain when Lisa Prevedel broke her ankle. It was an amazing effort, Lisa was brave as could be, and Lakeland Rescue was very impressed by the shakers innovation and determination.
• Shakers helped improve our community and beloved trails by participating in the Muscanetcong Watershed Cleanup Day on 4/12, hosting a Trail Workshop with the NY/NJ Trail Conference at Salt Gastropub on 5/10, and making trail improvements on National Trails Day 6/7.











• On Mother’s Day, Robbie Davidson performed a Search and Rescue and found a lost family in Allamuchy just as darkness fell.
• We celebrated all the good times, friendship and hard work at the 2nd Annual Salt Shaker BBQ, hosted by Sheila and Jeff Hall at their home.







• Shakers made the news too! We were featured in the Daily Record, and twice in the Lake Hopatcong News. Brizstock will be featured in the Lake Hopatcong News in the upcoming October issue.
• One of our Shakers acheived his 1000th day straight of running with his fellow shakers there to celebrate with him. As far as we know he hasn’t stopped running yet. Forest Gump, anyone?

The 2014 regular season might be officially over, but we’re still running. Since that last Tuesday night run, we’ve come together for the Hudson Farm Charity Hike (we ran it of course) and the Hot Chili 8-mile trail run, where we presented Mare Galeos of the Sussex County Women’s Forum Friend2Friend free mammogram program with a check for over $11,000. Coming up, look for Shakers at the NYC Marathon and Thunder Run 13-mile trail run. Last but not least, the Salt Shaker Trail Running Club will be celebrating the end of another fabulous year on December 6 at our 2nd Annual Holiday Extravaganza!

“What a long strange [trail run] it’s been….”