Holy hills, Batman!

So here's the official description of today's race, the Dreaded Druid Hills:

First 5K is fairly flat with some very gentle rolling hills. Next 3K contains at least seven killer hills in the back roads of Druid Hill Park. The last 2K is flat, but who cares at this point, most runners are ready for the race to have been over a long time ago. This is a very challenging event. The hills in the back of the Baltimore Zoo seem relentless with their curves and seemingly never-ending elevation gains.


Challenging?!?!? Try sadistic, inhumane, or barbaric. Seriously. In retrospect it's laughable that I actually tried to do some hill training in preparation for this race. There is nothing you could do to prepare for that course. Thankfully I had made the decision going into it that I was going to run nice and easy and not try to channel any sort of inner mountain goat. After coming off a week-long vacation there's a lot to do around the homestead and I really didn't want dead legs and crippling muscle cramps to hold me back. (If I took an honesty pill I'd admit that I wish I had actually pushed it a little more--the time that goes with an easy attempt isn't so pretty.)

The course was basically out and back so you knew what you were facing for the second half. At one point, around mile 4 or so, we were near the crest of one of the hills and some poor guy next to me kept chanting "Oh god, let this be the last hill." What I knew, and what a local running coach cheering on the runners at the top also knew, was that we still had a heck of a doozy waiting ahead. Obviously I wouldn't make a good running coach because I tried to shield poor out-of-breath, about-to-collapse running man from that information but "Bob the Coach" yelled out "Heck no! You've got Kilimanjaro around the bend."

And by Kilimanjaro he meant the hill labeled "Mile 5: Slow Down. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

All in all, today was great. I got to experience my first hot weather race where they actually hose you down as you run and throw ice-water soaked towels on your head when you finish. I tried not to freak out too much at the hosing even though all I kept thinking about was how water created that horrible squeak in my old shoes and I didn't want my still fairly new ones to end up the same way. Really, getting doused while running should be a choice, right?

Running Partner ran today too. It was her first race ever and she totally rocked it. That girl has got determination like I've never seen. I was so proud of her. I think she finished in about 54 minutes. My time, I guess I should at least share it, was 1:03. The good news is I still had plenty of energy to go to the farmer's market afterward (post-shower--no worries) and am heading out to a neighborhood party in just a few minutes. It's all good.

Oh, and how could I almost forget, the race organizers sent out an email last night with two important notes:

1. No strollers would be allowed on the course because one of the hills, known as Dead Man's Hill, is officially closed to any wheeled traffic after the number of fatalities suffered by cyclists in the past few years.

2. Zoo officials were beginning to express concern about potential loose animals.

And I still ran anyway. That's the craziness of this sport.


Today's Miles: 6(.2)
Total Miles: 92