A HARD TEN (#)

Let's be honest, even if the weather was sunny Saturday morning I don't think Coach Jim was going to happen.

This weekend I didn't end up going to that sixteen miler. Like predicted, it POURED all of Saturday and I just didn't think waking up to go slog in that would be good for my mental running health. I have clothes to run in sprinkles/light rain, but when it is pouring I don't have any good clothing options. It would have been miserable.

Good thing too, because the night before I went out with my running buddies for some shenanigans. Alejandro was there and he certainly wasn't about to wake up and go running (we didn't get home until almost 2am) and neither was I. Luckily the weather bailed us out and made me feel okay about skipping it, because even if I had stayed in that night and sipped tea and did a puzzle (that actually sounds kind of fun) I wasn't going to go running in that monsoon.

Flash forward to Sunday. It mostly dried out except for a few sprinkles here and there so Alejandro and I decided to repent by doing a hard ten mile hill run. We met at my house and ran out to Cooper Mountain, went down into the nature park, and then back up and back home. It was a hard run I've done before but looking back I think it has been two years since I last ran Cooper Mountain.

This run is not for the faint of heart. You basically climb 500 feet in the second mile. No joke. And that is after some pretty significant rolling hills in the first mile. I felt like I was going to die. Alejandro charged ahead but that hill is just too freaking steep so I slowed to a snail's pace. My hammies and hips were BURNING at the top and I didn't even know if I could continue. Anyways, I did and eventually you get to the nature park and get some wicked nice downhill.

During that downhill you are feeling pretty good. I can do this! I am the hill master! Well, eventually after losing 300 feet or so you have to climb back up in the course of a mile. Not quite as wicked as that first hill getting there, but still, you start to question your abilities to stay alive and finish. It was really working my hammies and glutes. I am going to have a fantastic ass come Shamrock time. We finally crested the top of the hill and worked our way out of the park.

The rest of the run is generally downhill, but there is still quite a bit of uphill. It's quite rolling and the elevation chart doesn't really show that. This route gives you very little rest. You are either practicing downhill or charging uphill. Honestly though, this makes it a really effective run. Those ten miles were harder than a sixteen mile run on flat ground. I was spent after and still sore today (Tuesday). It was great practice for Shamrock in March. If I were to run that every other week until Shamrock I'd set a course PR for sure. Who knows though, maybe I'll wait another two years before going back.