The Climb

Today my plan called for a 2:30 run. My first thought... Only 2:30? Ha! What has become of me that I can seriously use the word only to describe a 2 1/2 hour run?

Lest you think that coach is going soft, I should clarify that apparently this was Mountain Running Week here for Mama Simmons. In the middle of this run I was to include 2 x 15 min repeats up the side of a mountain.

The problem with that was that the climb I ran to was only about 3/4 mile long (Isn't that always the problem when running repeats up the side of a mountain?)... I swore I remembered it taking at least 15 minutes to run up, but the first time up was 8:22. In my defense, it was a hellaciously hard 8:22 that certainly felt like at least 15 minutes... The Old Pali is definitely steeper than Tantalus. So then I had a decision to make on the fly... how many times up should I go? Plan called for 2x up. But that would only be less than 17 minutes of work and I was supposed to do 30. I didn't want to sell myself short... Even 3x up wouldn't quite be enough but 4 times might throw me right over the edge... Would coach be pissed if he told me to go 2x up but I went 4? What to do? What to do?

I decided I would make the decision based on how I felt and how the third one went. The second time up I timed it in 8:21. It didn't feel as hard as the first time. I made a pact with myself that if the 3rd time was better than 8:20 and I thought I could do it again, I would go for #4. (What I did NOT want to do was slog up a 4th time in 8:30+). So when I crested the top in 8:02 for the third one, I asked myself WWLD (What would Lucho do?) and that answered my question. Duh. I would run the 4th one and I would get under 8:00. I was getting stronger as I went and I felt pretty confident I could do this.

4th time up... Miley Cyrus comes on my iPod and starts singing to me about The Climb... There's always gonna be another mountain, I'm always gonna wanna make it move, Always gonna be an uphill battle, sometimes I'm gonna have to lose, Ain't about how fast I get there (yes it is I'm freakin' gonna get there in less than 8 minutes), Ain't about what's waiting on the other side... It's the Climb....

Crested the top, saw 7:44 on my watch, painted a smile on my face like I'd just won the Ironman, and then floated home. Now of course, I am trashed, because who works THAT hard in the middle of a 17 mile run? But I recovered in time to go hide some plastic eggs full of candy for Moana.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go figure out how to get rid of these saddle sores before tomorrow. Apparently this upcoming week is bike week and coach said he was "taking the kid gloves off". WHAT? He's been wearing kid gloves? Holy crap.