Last Thursday certainly wasn’t a nice day to be running around the woods of Lakewood’s Ocean County Park. The tail end of the autumn’s first northeast storm ensured the course would be muddy and slippery for the Ocean County Cross Country Championships, and a chill was in the air.

Some Southern Ocean County runners, however, found a rainbow. Indeed, Pinelands Regional High School senior Lauren Zodl discovered a pot of gold at the end of her 3.1-mile race.