Running Alone but Together: So Hilly, That You Could See The Curves Of The Earth

Sunday, June 12, 2011

So Hilly, That You Could See The Curves Of The Earth

After being in hell for 5 days (i.e. St. Louis, MO with temperature of 97F/36C), I was so happy to be back home where a lovely soft rain, overcast skies and the most delicious temperature of 54F/12C welcomed me.

As you can imagine I didn’t even try to run in St. Louis. Outside was impossible, and the gym was at 70 degrees, so the AC doesn't do anything and you feel like running at 90. In top of that, I was in a conference, and I had to catch up with work until late at night, ending my days absolutely tired.

But, the weekend ahead promised to be awesome with back to back races: A 12K on Saturday, and a 10K on Sunday.

Saturday’s race was a fantastic and big race where I had the opportunity to meet some of my sole sisters (i.e. Ragnar Relay Team). The course was very hilly but beautiful, most of it through Point Defiance Park with the gorgeous sound at our sight. The temperature was not too bad, high 50’s, but to prevent Seattleites burned with “those high temperatures” the fire hydrants were open. Also some neighbors had their hoses with sprinklers for runners to run underneath. This must sound weird for people from out of town, but yes, it seems we can’t handle the heat caused by that temp !!!! Despite the hills, I did very good, clocking 1:11:35 for a 9:36 min/mile pace. We had a post-race lunch party with Narrows Bridge Running Club and we definitely had a great time. Prizes drawn, socks, hats, and bib numbers for several Half Marathons. I won none…

On Sunday the race was a 10K along spectacular Lake Washington. There is nothing more beautiful than Seattle’s blue skies and lakes in a sunny day. So, 6.2 miles seeing plain beauty is worth the effort. I had no plans for the race due to being tired from the 12K, but the no-plan changed when the race started and I switched to a go-with-all. The first 2 miles were done at 9 min/mile. At mile 3, I was in 9:15 and my legs were feeling it. Then at mile 4 & 5 we had a couple of not-too-bad hills and I dropped the pace to 9:30, but when I ran by the mile 5 mark, I pushed it to 8:54 min/mile, to finish my race in 56:22 minutes, a PR by 1:41 minutes, for a pace of 9:05. Oh, this time I won a prize... A Coleman outdoor volleyball set!!!

I can’t believe that I could run a 10K PR a day after running a 12K on a hilly course. As the start line announcer said: So Hilly, That You Could See The Curves Of The Earth.