UH-OH

Emma kickin' it at the beach after Zoe and I blew up on our run.

Zoe and I took to the course yesterday morning at 0900. We hoped to run for three hours while checking out the terrain of the 30 mile fundraising run for the Congo Women. We were armed with two water bottles, three duck and potato crunchy treats and three Gu's. Zoe asked that I carry this time and she promised she had next time. As we got out onto the parking lot of the Pittock Mansion, our starting point, I realized we were at the top of a very large hill. I didn't mention this to Zoe as we made our way to the trail head. My concerns were correct, the first 2 miles of the course would be downhill, a rather steep, swithcback trail to be exact. At roughly the .5 mile point into the route we crossed Cornell and were on the familiar territory of Lower Maclay and more down hill.

We didn't let this disrupt our energetic descent and progress. After descending we, what else? started climbing again. My plan of "walking the hills" to conserve energy was out the window. I had no intention of walking the 30 miles and this is what I'd be doing with that plan. I needed another plan. Zoe suggested sucking it up and running the whole thing. We climbed to the top of Fire lane 1 then had a brief snack , drink (myself from a water bottle, Zoe opted for the mud puddle) we continued down into the canyon. Then we continued up, out of the canyon, and finally we turned around at 90 minutes. We continued out ups and downs with a low point being a very long attempt at audience participation from Cake during their rendition of their song Jolene? I can tell you the first thing after writing this blog that sucker is coming off the ipod! Painful. We finally arrived at the 2 mile UPHILL finish. We walked. I'd like to say I tried to run it. I jogged parts, but mostly I walked. It was an eye-opening experience to say the least. I'd believed I would finish this 30 mile run in five hours. Now I know I will be lucky to complete it in 6 hours. I don't even like being on my bike for six hours. This will be an accomplishment in mental strength for sure. I'm hoping on the day of the run, the companionship and cause will carry us through. In the meantime, I will not be training on the flat and easy Leif Erickson any longer. We are heading to the hills...care to join us?