I ran Wilke today for the first time in - oh - months. And it felt pretty bad, too. The one bright moment was that the weather decided to cooperate, settling in at the mid-fifties for the morning’s run.

Rather than park at RunTex I drove in closer, to the baseball fields, and met up with David to run the mile or so over to the Hill. We had a good chat; he’s already looking forward to a fall marathon even though he doesn’t know which one, and Muna’s doing some intense mileage as she works her way towards Boston this spring. Anyway, we get to Wilke just in time to skip the first drill, and soon enough we’re all lined up at the bottom of the hill.

Usually, this indicates that its time for a pep-talk. This time, though, Gilbert just said, “Hey, do seven. What are you waiting for? Go!” We shuffled around for a few seconds, shrugged, and went. I ran quite a few of the laps with Leslie, who did great at Freescale, and Laura who had very recently joined the group and was enjoying her first Wilke experience.

I’m a little saddened to admit that I only did six. On the fifth one, I was really feeling bad, and on the sixth I was taking such short strides that Gilbert said I looked like I was running in place. Ah, well - that’s what skipping hills for 4 months will do for you. Speaking of which, my tendonitis didn’t cause any issues, so I think I can properly say that its completely disappeared. Which is something else that skipping hills for 4 months will do for you.

After the six, I did three runs backwards up the steep half of the hill. These really made my shins burn! The sprints at the end - forwards up the last 50M or so - felt pretty good, and here I was more solidly midpack in performance even if I was being spanked by the fast folk. On the way back I chatted with Gilbert some more, and he gave me some more ab exercises to add to my (admittedly lacking) regimen. He also promised to meet me in the gym one of these days to tell me what I’m doing wrong all the way around (my phrasing, not his, but probably accurate).

So. Bonnell this past Saturday, and now Wilke. I’m weak, but more determined than ever to get my hill strength back this year. I used to love the Scenic loop, so I know its possible… it’ll just take time and hard work.

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