I kind of figured running all these hills would make me, you know, better at running hills. But I still just suck going up hills. Literally. I am sucking air big-time. Everyone else pulls ahead of me while I have to walk. I blame my (self-diagnosed) under-sized lungs due to premature birth. I also can't blow up balloons.
Anyway, the course starts out with 550 feet of climb in the first mile and another 700 in the next two miles. So I was doing my reasonable best, but watched 7 or 8 people pull away and disappear.
By mile 3 I'm sure some were over half a mile ahead. Finally I got to a long downhill, and it was on! I gave up all pretense of conserving energy and just pushed it hard, flying down the rocky trail with reckless abandon. SO FUN! My splits went from 13:11, 11:43 and 10:42 to 7:22. I passed a few people, but knew there was 3 more well ahead. Finally at about 4.5 they came into view and I could see I was reeling them in. I caught the last of them right at the turnaround.
I kept up a good pace on the more moderate uphills, which don't bother me much. It's just the really steep ones. And there was one more of those in mile 7 that had to be walked. By then I had shaken all but one of the goats. This was some new guy, who was clearly superior and pulled away from me on the hill. But then he stopped and waited, unsure of the right trail to take. It was good to have him in front of me because it kept me pushing. I chased him down another long downhill in mile 8 in 7:01!! Almost caught him too, but then we went back up and I dropped way back.
Once again the leader had to stop, when some hikers asked him to take a picture of them! Ha ha! The Kenyans never have to do that in a big marathon! I wish I had a picture of him doing that. Anyway, he still ran away from me. A big downhill in mile 10 was not enough to catch him so I finished 2nd.
BUT...our group leader decided to disqualify him as a ringer, since he hadn't been to any other Goat runs all year. So I got to be the winner, and scored this awesome trophy.
Then we ate and drank and partied. And I thought about how hard I pounded my quads on those downhills and how that would feel tomorrow on my 15-miler...Longest run in a year...
Sunday I awoke without any soreness, so I guess I'm getting used to this stuff. It was overcast and 60 so I went out topless for 15 miles along the beach. The plan was to take it easy and just get the miles in. At first I was definitely sluggish and my pace was a bit slower than usual. But I kind of warmed up I guess and the pace dropped. By the time I hit the beach after mile 6 I was chugging along close to marathon pace.
Pretty encouraging to be close to 8:00 on tired legs. By mile 12 I was petering out and slowing, but during mile 14 I started tracking a guy in an Ironman shirt who was near my pace. So of course my pace picked up and I gradually caught him. And then of course I had to move on by, with authority! And the body responded pretty well and I finished strong. Last 9 averaged 8:09. And I finished the 25 mile weekend with gas in the tank.
Feeling pretty confident. Next weekend I plan to do 16 on fresher legs, and see if I can do the last 10 under 8:00 (BQ pace).
All systems are go!
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