Training Run--Saturday, June 13

To be honest, I set the alarm for 5 a.m. much more frequently than I get out of bed at 5 a.m.

Ideally, I would spring to life at the alarm's first sound with my feet landing squarely in my running shoes after having slept in my running clothes. It would then be a short walk to my front door while I strapped on my GPS watch and placed my running cap on my head. Once outside the door, I would take a deep breath of morning air and enjoy the opportunity to run in the quiet of the dawn.

What actually happens is I hit the snooze button until the moment of truth, which is 5:30 in the morning for me. If I get moving by 5:30, I can run for a full hour and still finish the run, get cleaned up, drive to the office and be at my desk by 8. Once 5:35 hits, I may as well just stay in bed and set my sights on running later in the day.

Last Saturday, however, was not one of those "hit the snooze button" days. It was our last full day in Colorado, and we were staying with Cathy's sister just outside Colorado Springs. I actually woke up before the alarm and was ready to run. The secret of my run last Saturday was I started on top of a hill at 7,600 feet. While I did not know the elevation drop at the time, I did know my run would begin with at least 2.5 mile continuous downhill along Baptist Road.

During this run, to the far west I could see the snow on Pike's Peak. Also to the west, but much closer is the Air Force Academy. I was running straight down in to a valley, with mountains rising again on the far side. To the east is a town called Monument, with various rock formations rising from the ground. It was easy to be inspired to run in that setting. The air was cool, the humidity low and, due to the elevation, my lungs were grabbing for every molecule of oxygen they could find.

Then, I made it to the bottom of the hill. There are two choices a runner has at this point. Either call and ask someone to come pick you up to avoid what will be a hill climb with 800+ feet of elevation increase in 2.5 miles, or you can just motivate yourself back up the hill. The good news for purposes of this blog was that I chose the latter, the self-motivation of meeting the challenge of the run back up the hill.

Running back up a hill is not nearly as much fun as running down a hill. But it is a great challenge. Due to the thin air, I would run until my heart rate reached 170 (which, by the way takes a great deal of effort) and then walk until it settled back to 140 beats per minute (which, thanks to all my running, happened way too fast). I would then start running again, then walk, then run again, then walk...all the way back up the hill.

My total distance Saturday morning was 6.84 miles. More importantly, it was an enjoyable way to start a new day.

And, later in the day, we headed up to the top of Pike's Peak, so I included that picture for your viewing pleasure.

To be honest, this morning I hit the snooze button and stayed in bed.

NOTE: I'll be back to posting old marathon recaps in the near future.