Level the Playing Field

Matt's college friends, Joel and Mark, were set to arrive at 8pm tonight, so we were determined to quickly cram the rest of our weekly runs before their arrival. We set out at the start of the Equinox M. trail, each of us armed with a granola bar and a full tank of water in our running packs. The forecast promised us a hot day, so we were prepared for it.

The first quarter mile goes straight uphill, 200 ft, and is so hard it leaves me gasping for breath at the top EVERY SINGLE TIME. The hill stripped me of all my confidence and I questioned whether today was really the day to do the run. I had just run consecutive days of 800 repeats, 9 mile 1/2mary race pace, and a 40 min tempo. After this run, I'd surely be wrecked. Matt said that we needed to run this run to "level the playing field" for our less-experienced visitors, whom we'd surely kill with fatigue by the time we tired ourselves. If this hill didn't help do that, I don't know what would.

The run went smoothly. We rolled along the now-familiar first six miles of the course without a problem. Since I hadn't run miles 6-9 in over a year, it was exciting to rediscover the trail again. I had a few problems with my backpack, too. I couldn't adjust it enough to relieve the chafing from the shoulder/chest strap area. Finally, I decided to move the entire chest strap below my boobs and IT WORKED! It looks ridiculous, but I guess that my boobs are just a little too big for this backpack. I wonder if other women have this problem too. As an added bonus, the adjustment provided for even better stability in the pack.

We alternated trail and road miles until #9, at the foot of Ester Dome. Here, we turned around and followed a different trail back to our car. The sunny, 70F day and a slight breeze left us with huge grins on our salt-covered faces.

When Joel and Mark arrived, we had a quick dinner and set out for some 11pm disc golf. They were pretty jet lagged, but were happy to be walking around. Also, they were amused by the fact that they could play disc golf at all hours of the night.