Running In Place

Ok. Ok. I know. I know that every time I run up a hill I say it was a big-ass hill. I know that each time I run a hilly race I am running up the biggest hills ever. I know. But dudes, seriously, Sunday - I ran up (and down) THE BIGGEST HILLS EVER! I know I am the runner who cried hill and that, since I don’t have any fancy surveance equipment to show grades over distance, you just have to trust my subjective assessment and my limited descriptive skills, but please bear with me.

This race - the Lane 10K Lake Run - took place in a little town about 60 miles north and east of me. I was looking forward to the run and the hour plus drive for the same reason - scenery scenery scenery. I love this area. Heading out there at 7:30 on a Sunday morning, there was very little traffic and lots of wildlife to be seen. The area is rural enough that there might’ve been 100 houses along the entire way. Mostly it was woods and lakes with occasional tiny communities. This picture, out my dirty windshield, about sums it up.

I showed up at the pavilion in town, picked up my number, and hopped the bus to the start line on the other side of the lake. I had heard that the course would take us around the south shore of the lake and back to the pavilion, and that’s all I knew…until I listened to the conversations taking place around me on the bus. There was alot of talk about killer hills at miles 2 and 4; statements asserting that if you could run this 10K you could run any 10K, any time, any where; and of course, the above quoted statement.

I was surprised to see a familiar face as I lined up at the start. The older lady who I see at all the races in Utica, the one who always places in the 70+ age group and always smokes me in the last mile, was there (though she had to drop out in the first mile due to trouble with her pacemaker - she was ok, just said it’s getting time for a replacement). Anyway, we lined up and set off in short order and the course immediately began to roll up and down. Having a sense of what was ahead of me, I set off slowly. The weather was beautiful, mid-70’s and very little humidity. The course was almost entirely shaded by the woods on either side of the road. What could be better to attack a challenging course!

Right smack at the beginning of the second mile was the first of the promised “big” hills. It was, I guess what I would call moderately steep and long and I made my way up thinking well good, now I don’t have to worry again till the big hill at mile 4. I’m so silly. Much of the course from there on out was hills, some pretty steep ones. And here’s the thing - nearly every uphill was matched by a downhill, steep downhills, some scary steep. I often resist just opening it up on downhills because the notion of a little trip-up and a big face-plant is vivid in my imagination, but after the first downhill I knew that I couldn’t continue trying to keep the brakes on, it was just too hard. So up I trudged and down I flew - again and again and again. I was pretty much alone out there, a few people a little distance behind me and 2 people in sight well ahead of me. I knew I wasn’t going to catch the 60 year old lady training for an October marathon but I was hoping to reel in the guy who was walking up all the hills. Finally, in mile 6, I passed him. Heading into the homestretch was downhill and then flat. I passed a lady who appeared as though she was probably an early finisher as she headed through the course backwards. I thought about having to run this course again - like, what if it was a 20K and you had to run it twice. Could I have done that? I don’t think so. Then I, of course, thought about how I’m going to manage a hilly 1/2 M and got all freaked out. I squashed that pretty quick and left another day’s worries for another day. Then it was time to cross the finish line and, this time, I did have a lil’ kick to give it so that was nice.

This course was way more intense than last week’s (Molly would have loved it!), and my frame of mind was much better, so I hope my whiney-ass is redeemed. I finished in 1:11:31, 11:32 avg. pace and I feel good about that.

Here’s a bit of the lovely lake we ran around.

Oh, and check out Brown Socks for a picture of fresh-as-a-daisy-Jennifer and rode-hard-and-put-away-wet-Lara after our cross country 5K. More on that later. Believe me!

subtitle: I guess it’s all relative…

This weekend Jennifer was digging into a tough 25K trail race, Annalisa and Dianna were rocking a tri, Jack was cruising through his 20 mile long run, Marshall was getting up at 1 freakin’ 45 AM to do 22 trail miles. I was running a pretty 5 mile race on a lovely day and bitching the whole way!

This run was on Molly’s turf but she hadn’t been sure if she was going to do it due to some ongoing calf discomfort. As it turned out, she was able to make it and we met up at the registration area. Visions of our victorious Boilermaker finish were floating through my head and I was all 5 miles - feh. I laugh in your general direction you silly 5 miles!

Molly had sent me a mile by mile course breakdown, and I was somewhat familiar with the area, so I knew we would be running a few hills. The registration form had indicated a “fast, rolling course” but those Madison County folks live amongst the hills and their definition of rolling is evidently different than mine.

We started out in town, through the village green area - where a festival with music, farmers market, and artisans was set up - and out towards the lake. The first mile was pretty well flat and Molly and I ran along together, planning not to go out too fast as we knew it wouldn’t be so flat down the road. My left hip/groin immediately began to feel tight despite the fact that I had been doing the PT assigned stretches religiously. I also began breathing hard and just feeling like I was putting in a tremendous effort right away, which was a little discouraging.

The second mile was where the rolling started, and though I’ll not remember every hill we went up and down, suffice to say that the rest of the run was mostly some degree of up or down. Honestly, not big hills - they just felt like it. I couldn’t seem to quit huffing and puffing and was dismayed that I really wasn’t able to recover my breathing much on the downhills. I think this is also the mile where an F-bomb got hurled at us by an irate driver. If I had any complaint about this race it would be that they didn’t close any roads, though in fairness, some were main thoroughfares that would be difficult to close and others were side roads that didn’t generally have alot of traffic. Unfortunately, quite a few cars didn’t see fit to slow down for us and some came uncomfortably close!

Miles 3 and 4 were more ups and downs and where I did most of my whining in earnest. Wah wah wah. Molly, who I had surprisingly kept up with to this point, patiently indulged my complaints until mile 5 when she beat feet and pulled away. I trudged the last mile, which was mostly flat except for one small incline, and clopped across the finish. There’s no kick here. Afterwards I visited with Molly for a few minutes (she was all like yeah, that was nice nonchalant) and walked around the festival till I found some homemade zucchini bread to renew my spirit.

Subjectively, the race felt terrible. Time wise, it really wasn’t terrible. All told - 54:20 with an average pace of 10:52 - not my best 5 miles and not my worst. The good news is that, after the first mile or so, the tightness in my left leg went away and - better still, I had no discomfort after the run or the next day. It seems as though the stretching is helping.

So that’s it. No worse for the wear. Next weekend I’ll head up north for a 10K and hope that my body and soul are a little more spry.

Oh, and Jennifer might be playing coy but I’ll happily blab. She and Molly and I will be meeting for an evening cross country run on Thursday while she’s visiting family in NY State. So stay tuned for pictures of Jenn and Molly perkily jogging along and Lara bringing up the rear, waving a white flag.

P.S. Ok Jon, Jennifer’s coming allllll the way from Texas, no more excuses for you .