Into the "Thick" of It

It's 10:30 PM by the time I get back to my car. The lights of the city don't help light my path; no, I brought Knucklelights and my headlamp to do that task. My legs are beyond tired and my energy is depleted. Someone must have tied bricks to the bottoms of my new Saucony Kinvaras. Why would someone be that cruel? Despite the heaviness to my step and the tightness in my quads, I feel like a runner? Why? Because that is exactly what I just did for three hours: Run.

My relationship with Running got off to a rocky start. I tried to bend the rules and test our relationship at the Scott Tinley tri. Swimming was a smooth talker, Cycling offered a challenging adventure and my date with Running seemed promising. The first 20 minutes were not what I expected. This was supposed to be my strong event. But Running had other plans. It was after the tri that I decided to really commit. Well, after the tri and a blogpost from Drea.

Drea is my hero. I don't know if she realizes that, but I have so much respect for that woman. Runners like Drea, Chad, Joe, Rusty, Lynn... I want to be more like these people. But what sets them apart from the weekend warrior? Commitment. Joe has run every single day for three years straight. Respect. Right there. Drea ran at 5AM every single day in the month of September because it was the only time she could fit it into her busy schedule. Commitment. Pure commitment to the sport. Lynn has won the Western States 100 more than once. Admiration. Sheer admiration.

I have the desire, but when the going gets rough, I sometimes back off. If I don't have time to run for three hours in a row, I typically break it up and do two in the morning, one in the evening. Yesterday, I decided that needed to change. After teaching circuit, I geared up in my night-run attire and took off from work. I found challenging hills and tried to explore new routes. Over an hour of my run was in Hope Ranch, the home of hills. I commited and I finished tired, but successfully. It was beautiful. I burned 2,000 calories yesterday. That's more than some people eat in a week... it's about the amount I eat in a day.

Last Sunday, I had a similar calorie expenditure. I invited Patrick and Matt to run Snake Canyon to Jesusita with me... a little over ten miles on dirt trails. Elevation gain: 1550 feet. In the beginning, I led, but I could tell I needed to back off if I wanted to have some strength for the Nike marathon this upcoming weekend. Matt took the lead with Patrick on his heels and I backed way off, my heart rate remaining between 170-184. As Rattlesnake cuts over toward Tunnel, there is a major climb. Even walking it, my heart rate was at 185. The sun was shining down right on the path with no noticable shade... maybe we shouldn't have started at 2PM in the heat of the day. My sweat tasted like water and I could tell I was low on sodium so I took a couple of Hammer Endurolyte capsules and continued up the hill.

It was a really brutal climb, but the views were spectacular. We made it down Jesusita just in time for me to drive Matt and Patrick back to their cars and rush to work. It was a really great experience and it showed me I need to practice on those trails more before the Endurance race, especially since that hill is part of the course.

Here's looking to some amazing runs yet to come!