1,200 Stairs and 27 Times 'Round the Park

Been a rough month for running, three weeks in Boston for work and a vacation down to Rutherfordton, NC have not been conducive to hitting the pavement.  Also dealing with a nagging tweak in my left shin from the three hilly 5ks I ran in 14 days.

The top 10 finish streak was broken in mid May with the Police Week 5k; I came in at 19:58 chip time, good enough for #26 out of 1,700 and 4th place in my age group (4th by the chip, 5th by the gun). But after that, it was all business travel and only managing 2-3 days of week of running. While in Boston, I was putting in boring 3-6 milers on the treadmill a weekday or so and hitting an 8-mile long run outdoors on the weekend.


Our trip to Rutherfordton led us to 93-degree North Carolina heat and SPF 10,000 sunscreen. After running a quick 3 miles on Thursday, Friday was a cross-training day of hiking around Chimney Rock with Jennie and the mutt.

Chimney Rock trails



Saw about 1,200 of these

Our morning started with climbing the 470 stairs from the parking lot to the top of Chimney Rock (2,280 foot elevation) to look out over Lake Lure and Hickory Nut Gorge. We continued on a 1.5 mile hike up the Skyline Trail to see the rock formations and vistas so scenic they were used in the filming of Last of the Mohicans. The trail gained about 200 feet of elevation, including many more stairs, and then we did it all again going down, including the previous 470 stairs to the parking lot. 

We then swung a .7 miles down on the Hickory Nut Falls Trail (yes, more stairs) and spent some time watching the waterfall tumble 404 feet. It rained a lot the previous few days, so the scene was pretty amazing. We were able to walk a mere feet from the waterfall spray and gaze up at the bluebird sky. After about 1,200 stairs, we were all ready for a beer back down in town, including the mutt.

Ritter and I hiking up a rock face on the Skyline Trail.

Looking back towards Chimney Rock and Lake Lure.

At the bottom of the 404-foot Hickory Nut Falls.

On Sunday, it was time to switch from hiking boots to running shoes. On a paved 1/3-mile loop at a local park, I clicked off a 9-mile run. Just 27 times around the loop; it had a rolling hill in the middle and a little tree cover at one end, I switched directions every nine laps. I was glad I carried two water bottles and a little Gatorade that morning, it was essential in the North Carolina heat. At one point, Jennie walked down with the dog, and I ran with him for a mile. The mutt kept up an easy 7:20 pace so I took him on my cool-down lap as well.

1...2...3...4...5....

Back-to-Back Top 10 Finishes

May is the month of 5k races...probably to the detriment of my long distance training regimen since my weekends are now 3.1 mile runs instead of 10+ miles. And overall weekly mileage has dropped with the uptick in business travel.

But it's also been a month of new goals and challenges, breaking a new time barrier, and being abused by the hills of northern Virginia...repeatedly. Fun couple races so far, with a couple Top 10s to add to the ledger:
Vienna Elementary 5k:  19:58  (6:26/mi)    (9th overall, 4th place age group)
Run for Justice 5k:       20:04  (6:28/mi)    (7th overall, 3rd place age group)
Police Week 5k:           Saturday, May 14

Vienna Elementary 5k  (May 1)
Hadn't given much thought to running this one, but since it's right behind my house -- I can see it from the kitchen -- why not run and support the local race. Was a relaxing morning: signed up at the school, jogged home for a cup of coffee and a little breakfast, and jogged back around starting time.

Was a standard out-and-back course over some hills. At the turnaround, I counted eight runners ahead of me. The final 1.6 miles was almost all uphill, so I decided to slowly attack and see if the runner in front of me would break on the uphill. I stalked him the entire way back towards the school; for the last half-mile I was about ten feet behind him, and he had no idea I was pacing him (that's why you don't run with earphones). At about .2 to go, I figured I'd attack. I blew past him and kept opening up ground. Crossed the finish line sub-20, ended up in 9th overall, but only 4th in my age group...disappointed not to get an age group place...where the heck did all these 20-somethings come from?

Felt nice to break the 20-minute barrier, but I'm still expecting better when I take on a non-hilly 5k.

Moments after my surprise move in the last quarter mile.

 
Run for Justice 5k  (May 7)
This was not the non-hilly 5k to break a new PR, but I was hoping for one. The Run for Justice was held by the Fairfax Law Foundation, so no absence of lawyers at this one...thankfully no one fell and there were no extra waivers to sign.

I knew there were hills on this course, but didn't remember how bad Tysons Corner was until I was running through it. There were two people on the starting line in flats and from the Pacer's team...so I already knew top 5 was going to be a stretch, those guys can move. As soon as the race began, there was a clear separation by the top 5 men, who were almost out of the picture in the first mile. My first mile was around 6:00 flat, a great first mile for me and I figured I was on a way to a new PR. At that point I was in 9th, and by the race's lowest elevation (1.6 miles downhill to start), I had blasted into 6th place, having just overcome a master's-group racer in full triathlon gear (seriously dude, it's a 5k...you can dress down a bit). I felt a runner on my heels, and she pushed past me as we transitioned into the uphills; really fast woman and definitely had more desire to push through the hills than I did that morning. I wasn't feeling the groove, the 6:00-minute first mile slipping to 6:30 by mile 2 and 7:30 by mile 3. The consistent 1.6 mile uphill to end was absolutely punishing -- even my arms were sore from pumping up the incline -- so after a promising start, I was okay cruising in at 20:04.

This was my first race in a while where I didn't improve on my previous best time for that distance, so there were definitely mixed feelings as I crossed the finish line. Happy to be in 7th, but really expecting more out of my race that morning. And though I received the first-place age group prize, I suspected the Pacer's Running Team members were in their 20s. Turns out on viewing the final times that this was correct; the organizers didn't want to double-up on prizes, so the top finishers weren't included in the age-group results. So it turns out I was actually 3rd in my age group, I'll take that.

I definitely have a better 5k time in me on a flat course...if I ever find one.