Lord Hill Revisited

Conquer your fears! Get back on the horse! If at first you don't succeed....ok you get the drift. I admit my first experience with Lord Hill wasn't anything to write home about - blog maybe and since mom reads my blogs maybe it's a wash. She does read them and I am sure often would like to edit some of the language :). My mom is very supportive. While on a good day I could run a 5K in a tad over 22 minutes, my mom would be proud of me even if it took me all day. I love that! Of course an all day 5K would mean I suck eggs but at least I'd know my mom would be there cheering me on. Thanks mom....

Today we headed back to the scene of the crime - Lord Hill. I wasn't worried or the least bit nervous - I always shake like that so leave me be. We were late arriving due to the remarkable navigation skills of my co-pilot. I won't mention names because she meant well and wasn't feeling 100%. Get well soon Sharon. Oops. Iain got us back on track and we arrived in one piece and the rest of the gang was there waiting for us. No one was running more than an hour so we grabbed a buddy or two and took off.  I was messing with my iPod and before I knew it, Stacy, Mikki, Iain, and myself were alone and working our way down the trail. It was Mikki's first trail run (turned out to be a great run for her) and she ran with Iain. 

Stacy and I peeled off to the right, taking the pipeline trail. Yes - I had a buddy. The team may have drawn straws before I arrived to see who would run with the guy who got lost last time. Stacy either got stuck with me or was lucky - I'll go with lucky. I'll also call her Hollywood. She wore these sunglasses and appeared to have her hair done one day last week for our run. It cracked me up. Then it rained on her and she NEVER runs in the rain - oh my, I think I could write an entire blog on that! 

Anyway, I had priorities today. The most important was not to get lost. Next was to enjoy the run and get a good workout. I decided to stay on the pipeline trail as it appeared to be long and straight and we only needed that layout to remain for 30 minutes - at 30 we'd turn and run back. The trail only forced us to take a turn once and we managed to remember where that was! Holy crap the trail was hard - hilly and rocky! Our pace allowed us to chat some which I enjoyed. Stacy is great and I enjoyed getting to know her better. Heck at one point she shared her water with me. The circumstance was Michael running with his mouth open as wide as the Grand Canyon and straight into a swarm of gnats. Not sure how many I ate but seven or eight struggled to get all the way down my throat - water was key at that point.

On the way back we found that the dramatic declines we struggled not to trip down had turned into the most incredible mountains to climb, or run. Sweet mother of pearl they were killers. I managed to slowly run up but my lungs were screaming and both quads burned. That was only hill number one. Stacy and I ran the second one together and somehow we managed to crest the top and found level ground as a reward.  On the trail we found many a mud puddle and I of course ran right through them while Stacy always went around, commenting on not getting dirty. Ha ha! Again, she cracks me up. By the by, she's one crazy great bike rider and I look forward to eating her dust on the road.

We made it back to the entrance and met up with the gang. My Garmin showed 59:58:58. Just shy of 60 minutes which was the goal. I didn't even turn it back on and run a couple seconds just to hit 60. I'm getting better aren't I?  We packed in the cars and made our way to Starbucks for our post run fuel/reward. Today Lord Hill didn't suck as much as it did last time. It still sucked but I can see myself coming back and running it again. Not right away, always with a buddy, and maybe with my mouth closed.  Tomorrow we swim in open water for the first time this year followed by a bike ride. Open water....I know, be careful. I will. There are swim angels to help me should I manage to make it from the grass to the sand and finally to the water. How bad could it be?  After all, I survived Lord Hill with a little help from my friends.