Today a group of eight of us met up bright and early for another Friday long run. Some folk had places to be, some just wanted to get it over with, and then people like me are just suceptible to peer pressure. One thing that I did notice was that these 12-14 milers, even a hilly one like today, have become routine; that’s a good thing. I didn’t even think to eat carbs the day before. Fat now, that’s another story, but less immedately useful as a glycogen source. Anyway….

We started out at Zilker and headed off, following Thon’s lead since he was the only person who knew where we were going. That’s pretty cool, actually. He did promise that we’d stay away from the trail and, not including running over the MoPac footbridge (which is technically the western edge of said trail), that’s exactly what we did. We took a quick one-mile waterstop and then headed up LAB to Exposition, over to Enfield, right on Pecos, and up to the cleaner’s on 35th. That seems hillier heading North for some reason, even though the “big hill” is really a valley that hits you both directions. Weird.

One nice thing about all of these hilly runs is that I don’t even notice some hills that used to bug the crap out of me, like the one heading up Veteran’s Drive this morning. Its not long, but it used to be a real PITA, and I didn’t even think about it until I was sketching up the map today. Mike and Amy pushed the pace a little, and it was pretty much those two, Carrie, and another atheletic lady who’s name escapes me at the moment leading the way, while Thon, Jessica, Emily and myself trailed along about 15-60 seconds behind them. Since Thon was the routemaster that made for some interesting yells to turn, but it worked out well enough.

After a rehydration stop we turned onto 35th. Thon promised that we weren’t heading up to Mt. Bonnell, and indeed we ended up retracing our steps from the tennis ball run two weeks ago, but didn’t take the turnoff up to MB. That’s a lot harder heading up the hill than down, for what its worth. Thon sped up to run with the front pack, and the three of us started to trail a little more. I’m still a lot weaker on uphills than I’d like to be.

Everything went well for a while, then the hills just kept on coming. I was tired, and I’ll admit that there were moments when I wanted to walk, but running slowly was a more palatable option and I kept on plugging. At one point Jessica and Emily decided that they’d gone far enough for the day and stopped to turn around. I figured we were going up to the top, and convinced them that we were almost there; I think that mentioning that Thon had stashed PowerAde at the top did the trick.

Unfortunately that 30 second pause let the lead pack drop us back and when we came to a spilt in the road we didn’t know which way to go! We took the right fork, then turned back and went the other way, adding about 1/3 of a mile to the run; still, we found everyone at the park at the top of the hill. Thon declared that we were now 135 feet above Mt. Bonnell, and I see no reason to doubt that - it was hard going! There was indeed something to drink, vitamin water I think, but it was much appreciated whatever it was; after a very short rest (since the others had been there for 5 minutes or so, having gone the direct route) we turned around and headed for home.

On the way back we basically retraced our route (much faster, naturally, since we were going downhill most of the time) but turned left instead of right at one point, running past Casa de Lance. Nice looking place, actually, they did a really great job of making it fit the neighborhood. Big gates, but that’s pretty understandable, all things considered. They do stop people like us from ringing the bell and asking if Lance can come out and play all the time.

At 8.25 miles we caught up with the others at the cleaners. This time they were open, which made it feel really strange to get water there for some reason. I keep meaning to grab a gift card or something and write them a thank-you note. Having an unlimited source of water right there helps the running community immensely. Maybe the ARC can give them some kind of recognition award? I’ll have to check into that. Anyway, after we headed off again I did end up running with Jessica and Emily again, trailing about 20 seconds per mile behind the others, which was fine by me. We had some good conversation along the way and, especially considering that I’ll be doing another hilly 11-12 miles tomorrow morning I didn’t feel the need for speed.

Not having water at O’Henry middle school was annoying, just because I’m so used to having it there. I guess I was experiencing Pavlovian thirst or something, although I was pretty warm. I don’t know if its because I’m English (although that’s my official story) or just weird, but running in the summertime really takes it out of me. Amy had hung back and was chatting at the MoPac waterstop, and Emily had to readjust a sock, so we waited there for a couple of mintutes. I drank about 15 ounces of water, doused myself under the shower, and we headed back to our cars.

Even though I wasn’t hammering it in, I did have some good speed left in me. I did pick it up in a few places, just to make sure I wasn’t fooling myself, and I think that if I wasn’t running tomorrow I’d have been in pretty decent shape for a fast final two miles or so. My quads were tired, which may have more to do with my core class 36 hours ago than anything else, and the bottoms of my feet were sore. I was running in new shoes, and I know they’re not quite laced properly yet, but I’m probably slapping the ground too hard as well. Ah, tuning.

Naturally we ran into Gilbert at Barton Springs. He really is everywhere (and knows everybody). The Fila Relays were discussed, although I’m not sure what if anything was decided about them, and after a quick dip of my legs into the pool I headed for home. Not bad considering that it was only 8:00 or so when I got back; a lot of folk are just getting out of bed at that point.

You can see our course here if you’re curious. The elevation profile is enlightening to say the least — the 400 foot rise makes the very solid rolling hills on Pecos look like they’re nothing at all which, if you’re familiar with that run, you know they’re not. Actually I just realized that you only get an elevation point where you make a map point, so if you (like I did) only put a point every quarter mile on a long rode, you miss the hills. Interesting, but I’m not about to redo the map to get ‘em in there. Still, this was bar none the hardest 12.3 mile run I think I’ve done, at least as far as the route goes. I don’t know what our time was, but while it wasn’t too fast it wasn’t as slow as it could have been either. I feel stronger for doing it, and that’s what’s important.

Tomorrow morning? Scenic Drive! More hills, here I come.

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