We Ate Hills for Breakfast

Yesterday morning the fog was thick while I drove to my third Chase Run.  When we started our mile-and-a-half warm up in 100% humidity, it was like running in the clouds.  After reaching the trail head, I was the third runner to start of 10 based on our predicted paces for the 4 mile Chase (with the option to add another three quarters of a mile).

As the men zoomed down the trail past me, I thought, "I've been caught."  People passing me said a few words of encouragement, such as, "Great job."  I said something silly like, "You caught me," or "Go get 'em."

I wore my Timex Ironman watch along with my Garmin because I've been having trouble with my Garmin.  I was able to track my time with the watch and my pace with the Garmin.   My pace was inconsistent because I don't regulate pace well in general, but throwing hills into the mix makes it even more inconsistent.   My aim was to stay ahead of my target 8:15 pace.  When I looked at my Garmin and noticed I had drifted to a slower pace, I took quicker steps.  

On this run I noticed I was running a slight down hill for two miles.  I felt defeated knowing that it would be two miles up hill on the way back.  But on the return trip, the subtle, gradual ascent wasn't as bad as I imagined.  In the past I noted that the second half of the Chase requires more effort and feels uncomfortable.  I thought it was because I was tired after two hard run miles.  This run is good training for the Kentucky Bourbon Chase.

When I came to the last, steep incline, I thought I was 10 seconds from my predicted finish time.  At the end, my watch read 32:18, and I reported to coach that I was 18 seconds slower than my goal.  After a half mile into the cool down, I realized that I was ahead of pace.  My finish time should have been 33 minutes for an 8:15 pace.   Two friends were ahead of pace, too.  We were all pleased.

During the cool down, I sang "Happy Birthday" to my friend who chose to start her birthday with this crazy run.   She brought carrot cake cupcakes made by another friend to celebrate.  I gave her a picture of a technical shirt that my dear husband and I designed and ordered for her that reads "I Eat Hills for Breakfast."  She was the one who planted the phrase in my head that helped me get through a recent hill workout.  I was tempted to order one of those shirts for myself .  We did eat hills for breakfast and then some carrot cake.