Friday Night Vertical 2021

Friday Night Vertical 2021

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Catch Up

So I have quite a bit of catching up to do on my blog after all of that drama. It certainly hasn't ended, but I won't update anything on here about it today. I will provide an update at some point, but it needs to sit quietly for now. I don't consider myself a drama-queen or attention-seeker, and this BS makes me feel like both. I prefer to live a quieter, non drama-filled life. I don't particularly enjoy a lot of attention, nor do I need it to boost my self esteem. I just felt my last two posts were necessary and decided to bite the bullet and write them. So now, I'm ready to get back to writing my mundane blog that maybe only 10 or so NORMAL people read. :)

My last running-related post was in reference to my last two runs January 6 and 7, so I have 3 weeks of catching up, and that includes 4 races! Egads! Haha. I'll just start with Jan 8's run and then make my next post about the first race.

Friday, January 8, 2016- I had made a last minute decision to sign up for the White Mountain Winter Triathlon in Jackson on Saturday, so I knew I had to take Friday's run fairly easy. The race was going to be tough, so I didn't want to do anything crazy the day before.

Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided to take Spot on a run up and over Hurricane Mt Rd from gate-to-gate. Bartlett to Chatham and back. I hadn't done this one since the previous winter and had been dying to run it again. I won't touch that road when it's open to cars. Way too scary. It's narrow and winds all around. I prefer to share the road only with people on foot or snowmobiles.

The conditions were perfect with microspikes. Solid footing on the packed snow. Ideal. The road immediately climbs steeply with little break before reaching the top at the Black Cap Trailhead. It's a decent gain in just under 2 miles, and I struggled big time. I have lost all of that awesome speed and power I had gained over the last year with the mountain running and racing, so that was a bit defeating. I'll get it back eventually, but I'm not sure if that one will be back anytime soon. That could take over a year! But, nonetheless, I still felt good. I ran into a woman I know through my job who was up there walking and chatted with her for a few minutes. It also gave me a chance to catch my breath. Haha.

The run down to the other gate is just over 2 miles and is also steep. The long downhills are really trying on my lower back/sacrum, so I was a bit uncomfortable by the time I turned around. Even though the climb hurt, I welcomed it because it was a different pain. Haha. It was very slow-going back up to the top, and then I took it easy on the run back down to the car to ease the back pain. 8 miles total. 11:24/mi pace with 2184 ft of elevation gain. Not a terrible pace, but I typically ran it closer to a 10min pace last winter. It was still a good run. Spot's been accompanying me on my Tuesday and Friday runs when I take them off road. She loves that. She can't keep up on the downhills, but that's the beauty of living where she can be off-leash. She just runs her own pace or stops when she needs to and catches up with me after I hit an uphill or stop. Works out great for both of us.
Spot at the top of Hurricane Mt Rd

Spot and me

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