Wednesday Hill Run

I guess that Wednesdays will be the day that I hit the hills. I think that they unfortunately will be a part of my marathon training since every plan that I have looked at has them incorporated in some manner.

This past Wednesday I joined Chris, Shawna, and Tom for a hill run. Before we made our way to the meet up spot there was a question about which hill to run. After going back and forth, I just said that we should do Spickert Knob since I had only ran it once in the past. I had remembered it as a long gradual climb as opposed to the straight up killer that is Moser Knob.

When we got to the meet up spot, our local running store, we walked inside to mess with a friend of our who works there. As we entered we asked if he was ready. His reply was "To go get a beer?" In hind site, that would have been way more enjoyable than the task at hand. Maybe next time!

After that we were off. From the store to the top of the hill is about 2.9 miles. That doesn't seem like that big of a distance until you figure that at least a mile of that is up hill. As we approached the bottom of the hill Shawna started to walk and said this was our break before the hill. I think that everyone either said or thought, Thank You. After that we were off. Tom took the lead and was like a man on a mission. I fell in behind him but was soon walking. I think that it is going to take a bit for me to get used to the increased mileage that we are suddenly putting in. I made it to the top about a minute after Tom.

This was Chris's first trek up this particular hill. Since Shawna had put in plenty of miles earlier in the day, she ran with him. They made it to the the top not long after I did. Once everyone was at the top, we took a short break before putting in the distance to make it a 3 mile run before heading back to the store.

The downhill may have been the best part. It doesn't take a ton of effort and is gradual so you don't feel like you are going to break through the front of your shoes.

The run back to the store was not pretty. There was plenty of walking, which I believe was welcomed by all. But we made it.

We ended up putting in 6 miles in about an hour. Not bad since it was hill day. Today I will be heading out for a 5 am run with Shawna. Not sure if we will be joined by anyone else or not. At least it will be early enough to beat the heat, since we are still hovering in the 90's. Man I can't wait for cooler temps.

Later