See how they Run
FFH is having girl time and boy time this weekend. Mike is off in Southern Cali taking a baseball tour with Detroit Joel; perhaps he will favor us with a Hostylefax. In the meantime I have been hanging out with April. Specifically, we entered an 8K trail run at Mt. Diablo--yes, that is the mount's real name. April and I had been training for the run, which is about 5 miles long, and even though it had been a while since I'd run that far I was up to 4.5 miles last weekend, so I was more than confident of my ability to finish the race without injury, which is a perfectly respectable goal (shut up, Goldman). Luckily for me, April hadn't been training very hard, because she is totally athletic, but this way we were in about the same shape. That turned out to be important because by the time we got there the race had already started, meaning we were on our own in the woods.
It was my fault. I made us late looking for my mp3 player in the pile of debris known as my living room. I'd never successfully run more than about two miles without music and I wouldn't leave without it. So of course I locked the player in the trunk of April's car as soon as we arrived and forgot about it till we already had our numbers pinned on our shirts. Nevermind. I didn't need the player because April and I didn't do much running. We jogged jauntily off the finish line down a path to the woods and started up the first hill. This was when the significance of the words "trail run" began to hit us. The hill was at about a 45-degree angle, and we were about three quarters of the way up it when April turned to me and said, "This is total bullshit." For the rest of the race we jogged on the flat parts and walked up the hills. And at the parts where we thought we might fall down such as cliffs, streams and narrow trails where you had to go single-file. All in all this was more of a 5-mile hike than an 8K run, but the sun was shining and we were good-humored. She pointed out that most of the people she knew couldn't even hike 5 miles, and I pointed out that we had gotten our heartreats up to the right range for cardiovascular training, because I am a nerd.
We certainly got some breathtaking views of the valley, and we didn't injure ourselves too badly (April twisted an ankle but rebounded nicely). We didn't even come in dead last, and the race organizers were very supportive, shouting out our names as we crossed the finish line, though they were possibly just checking us off their list to make sure they didn't leave anyone in the woods. It was a missed opportunity for bragging rights, perhaps, but a lovely way to spend a morning.
Ironman is coming to Davis this fall if anyone wants to crash on our couch.
It was my fault. I made us late looking for my mp3 player in the pile of debris known as my living room. I'd never successfully run more than about two miles without music and I wouldn't leave without it. So of course I locked the player in the trunk of April's car as soon as we arrived and forgot about it till we already had our numbers pinned on our shirts. Nevermind. I didn't need the player because April and I didn't do much running. We jogged jauntily off the finish line down a path to the woods and started up the first hill. This was when the significance of the words "trail run" began to hit us. The hill was at about a 45-degree angle, and we were about three quarters of the way up it when April turned to me and said, "This is total bullshit." For the rest of the race we jogged on the flat parts and walked up the hills. And at the parts where we thought we might fall down such as cliffs, streams and narrow trails where you had to go single-file. All in all this was more of a 5-mile hike than an 8K run, but the sun was shining and we were good-humored. She pointed out that most of the people she knew couldn't even hike 5 miles, and I pointed out that we had gotten our heartreats up to the right range for cardiovascular training, because I am a nerd.
We certainly got some breathtaking views of the valley, and we didn't injure ourselves too badly (April twisted an ankle but rebounded nicely). We didn't even come in dead last, and the race organizers were very supportive, shouting out our names as we crossed the finish line, though they were possibly just checking us off their list to make sure they didn't leave anyone in the woods. It was a missed opportunity for bragging rights, perhaps, but a lovely way to spend a morning.
Ironman is coming to Davis this fall if anyone wants to crash on our couch.
3 Comment(s):
- Posted by
Rich at June 05, 2005 2:29 AM |
Permanent Link to this Comment - Posted by Form at June 05, 2005 5:53 AM |
Permanent Link to this Comment
- Posted by Rich at June 06, 2005 4:50 AM |
Permanent Link to this Comment
Good job. Congrats on finishing your first trail run race!
I can't do hills either. I did 3.2 miles around the central park resevoir in near perfect conditions a couple of weeks ago, but that did not have hills. I also did 3.1 miles with hills during the Susan Komen Race for a Cure event in Central Park last fall. Once again, there were perfect conditions and plenty of running shorts to distract me through the race.
Arms are the key to hills - or so I am told.
