A 20-Kilometer Day–Part 1

In all honesty, I’m a little surprised that an ambulance wasn’t called yesterday. I definitely over-scheduled myself.  Me being me however, I just assumed I could do it without really working out the specifics.  And I did it.  And then slept for about 16 hours.

First on the docket was a mountain 5k at 8am. We really didn’t know when we signed up for it whether that 5k was actually on the mountain or on the street next to the mountain.  I was happy to find out the race was on the mountain because I’m really familiar with this particular one and like it an awful lot. And, now I can say that I’ve done a race on a mountain. Who else can say that? However, I was forgetting one very major  obstacle.  To do a race along the ridge, you must first climb the mountain. A mere 300 meters.  For you none-hiking folks, that’s like climbing 1,685 stairs, or the equivalent of about 112 staircases, and then arriving at the top 15 minutes before you begin your run.  Awesomeness.

The picture is blurry, sorry.  My number was my birthday backwards. That could only be a positive sign, right?

Here’s the start of the course.  You expect some amount of slope because you are on a mountain afterall. However, the first half was a constant downward incline which means the second half (du-dum!) was a constant upward incline.  Who thought that was a good idea?

Since our second event two hours later was on the same mountain in a different part of the city, we had originally planned to just walk along the mountain ridge to get there after the run. Hiking back down (which is almost as difficult as hiking up) to catch a cab/bus and then hiking back up again in a different area to start the next 7k just didn’t make sense.  Then the goofiest thing happened…. We both placed in the race.  Read:  I placed!  5th to be precise. Don’t get too excited. I did terrible. (I’m a realist, I’m not self-deprecating.) For me the time was just fine because I am not a runner.  For a 5th place trophy my time is pretty embarrassing.  But I still got the trophy!

2nd and 5th place finishers.  Times don’t need to be discussed.  I got a trophy!

Because we placed, the plan of walking along the mountain had to be scratched because we had to hike back down to collect our prizes.  By the time we made it down I was ready to go home and call it a day but there were people waiting for us at the other side of the mountain.  Our next event was starting in thirty minutes so we grabbed a cab to head over to Shintanjin for a barefoot 7k.  (I did this last year also for those that remember.)  This is going to be part 2.  I need to watch The Good Wife now.

Here are a couple more pictures from the 5k.  More cool than pictures…for the 7k I was on tv!  You’ll get to see that later.

Final 100 meter sprint, counting Charlie’s along the way.  And my trainer and I. Thanks Becki for putting up with all my complaining. You’re amazing!