A Journey to the WIN Sprint Triathlon: Kickin' it on the Katy Trail

Katy Trail State Park is a recreation rail trail that runs 225 miles (362 km) in the right-of-way of the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. The trail, widely known as the Katy Trail, is a Missouri state park and one of the longest Rails-to-trails in the United States. Sections of the Katy are part of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and the American Discovery Trail. Most of the trail follows the northern bank of the Missouri River. The trail is open for use by hikers, joggers, and cyclists year-round, from sunrise to sunset.

My best friend Angela lives in St. Louis and while we both make the trek to visit each other several times a year, we thought meeting halfway for a weekend would be a fun idea. Here the Rocheport Weekend was born. Rocheport is a sleepy, adorable little town right along the Katy Trail. It boasts several cute art galleries and antique stores along with a small cafe, general store and the Les Bourgeois Winery (http://www.missouriwine.com/). It's a perfect weekend getaway, about 2 hours from both KC and St. Louis, where you can be surrounded by nature and all it has to offer. The bed and breakfasts are where it's at (we stayed at the School House) and if you do the "dorm" you have the flexibility of checking in and out at your convenience.

Ang and I met up at about noon on Saturday and hit the trail! Our orginal thought was to bike to Boonville, about 17 miles away. However, our stomachs got the best of us about a mile or two into it...plus we had both had a rough week and decided that it would be a better idea to bike over to the winery and check it out! So that's what we did. Four hours on the winery porch, overlooking the Missouri river with bottles of local Chardonel and Labelle white wine, fabulous fresh food and wonderful girly best friend conversation, the sun shining down- we were in heaven.

Although we didn't quite bike with the intensity we intended on, it was a great "break" for both of us. Ang is training for the San Francisco marathon in October and had even ran 7 miles before she hit the road that day! So okay, I guess I was the only one who really took a break. Either way, we both agreed we MUST do again and the next time we really would make it to Boonville. I recommend the Katy Trail and Rocheport to anyone that needs to get away from the city and indulge in Mother Nature. It's family friendly and pretty romantic too!