Trail Run Du Jour

Sunday I participated in the first trail run with my trail run group (natch) at 8 a.m. Tim Twietmeyer showed about 5 minutes before. He said we were to go on a 'short' run (ha!) of 6 miles with 'no real hills --just a few rollers.' (HA! again.)

I was exceptionally nervous because, A) I have not been running as much as I should and B) from the looks of everyone else, they HAD been running as much as they should.

In any case, we started off--I positioned myself in the back of the pack so I would not get trampled or shoved into poison oak.

The first couple of hills were fine. No biggie--and at the end of the hill we were blessed with the sight of a beautiful clear Folsom Lake--the sun was reflecting off the surface and the wind was blowing. It really was stunning. I wish I had brought my camera to take pictures. I stopped to look at the serenity of it for about 10 seconds.

Then we turned left away from the lake and went up a 12% grade hill.

The remaining trail run was LOTS and LOTS of hills. Steep hills.

Up,
Down,
Up,
Down.

At one point, I looked skyward and saw my ol' nemesis---Suicide Hill.

Suicide Hill is 22% grade hill that I used to run up during high school cross country races. My friends and I named it Suicide Hill because--well it just about killed us to run up it. When you run up Suicide Hill, your arms swing and almost scrape the ground.

I couldn't believe it.. I haven't really seen you in 20 years, SH. How you doin'?

I attacked Suicide Hill. As my feet made crunch and scrape noises across the gravel I set my mind to finishing it at a run. I was going to do this.

Sure enough, I ran to the top of SH. Awesome! Tim was standing at the top of SH and urging us all onward. Great feeling! Great!

I'll be back SH..

There were 4 more big hills before we returned to the start area.
I mapped it on my BT page--Look for Cavitt Stallman Trail Run in Granite Bay California.

I am really looking forward to the next group run on Wednesday night after work. It will by mid-to-upper 90's, no breeze.

Good times~

--------------------------------UPDATE---------------------------------------


My quads are super sore today from the UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN yesterday. Happy that I have a rest day today.
Tomorrow morning I run 5 on the roads. Hurray!