Tuesday, September 29, 2009

If I'm not a runner, why am I racing on Saturday?

The application has been sent in for the Stark Mountain Hill Climb race on Saturday. It's been a few years since I've run this race. Well, truth be told, I've never really run the race. It's straight uphill most of the way, so I've power-hiked it twice in the past. Two years ago, a new course record was set by Dave Dunham, in a time of 23:51, vs. the old record of 25:23.

It's been so long since I've run it that I can't find any prior results in the electronic running logs on my USB key. Those logs go back to 2004. It's very doubtful that I ran in 2003, because I ran Wasatch that year and a 5K the next weekend, so I doubt that I raced a 3rd weekend in a row.

I've done the race twice, and those two times were most likely in either 1999, 2001, or 2002. In 2000, I was training for the NYC marathon, so I probably didn't run it that year.

I'm trying to remember my times. I'm pretty sure that the two results were close to each other, near the back of the pack, definitely under an hour, and that's all I can remember. My times might have been in the 40s or the 50s - I just don't know. It's very unlikely that I was sub-40 either year.

I haven't climbed a steep hill since the first few miles of WS in June. I haven't raced since that day either. Well, it's questionable if I even raced that day.

So, Saturday should be fun; it's a brutally tough but fun course in the mountains and there is a slight chance of snow on the ground at higher elevations by Saturday.

Last night, I did a lower body lifting workout. Last week, this workout left me sore for days, even though I took it easy on the weights. Last night, I increased all the weights including new PRs for front squats and Romanian deadlifts, and yet I don't feel sore today. Yet.

Tonight is upper body lifting.

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