Saturday, July 9, 2011

Climbing My Mount Everest

So taking inspiration from my brother's discipline, I dragged myself out of bed and was out the door by 6:00 am this morning.  I did an out and back run so that the driver of my support vehicle did not have to forgo sleeping in on Saturday just to pick me up from wherever I might go on a particular day.  (As I usually pick a favorite coffee place as the end point for a long run, this also meant forgoing the immediate chai latte that typically awaits me .  What?!  Chai lattes are basically like chocolate milk.  Just replace the chocolate with delicious spices, and it's the same thing.  Yummy protein to rebuild my spent muscles.  But I digress.)  What a difference from last Saturday!  I didn't even go through half of the water in my belt.  I had a good, strong run up until mile 8(ish), when I came to the nasty hill that starts the mostly uphill final leg of my return to home.  The first big hill I ascend has a grade of like 100%.  (Okay, that's an exageration, but it's steep.)  And I know the trick to conquering these things is fast, short steps.  So I dug in... but with each step, I grew slower and slower.  And I finally got to the point where I recognized that I could move faster if I were walking briskly.  Subsequently, this was at one point when a squirrel popped out from behind a bush and just starred at me coming up on him, without flinching, and then slowly turned and sauntered off.  I was half way up that first hill, and I conceded to walk until the grade became reasonable.  The rest of the run was okay, but my quads definately felt spent after that hill.

Miles logged: 10.4
Miles I was supposed to log: 10
Pace: 9:45 / mile

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