Indian Run at Hocking Hills 20K

By Gaby -
This is a random pic from the Hocking Hills Park's website. I did not take this man's picture and unfortunately, do not have any pics of me running it, but I swear that I did!

Wow.  What a race!  Truly one of the best--and hardest--races I've done so far.  I wish I had taken pictures but I was so nervous/excited for the race, I didn't even think about taking pictures!  I have a feeling, though, that pictures wouldn't do the scenery there justice.

I think I only got 3 or so hours of sleep last night--I was so worried about not hearing my alarm that it actually kept me wide awake:P  Anyways, I was up around 5:40am, hopped in the shower (yeah, I like to take showers before AND after a race, that's just how I roll), got dressed and then had my coffee and toast w/almond butter.  My friends showed up at 7am and we headed to Hocking Hills.  We arrived on site around 8:30 and picked up our bibs and chip timers.  There were a few waves of 20Kers, so by the time all four of us were ready, it was just us and 3 or 4 other people who started.
I had my water belt on and was wearing a long sleeve shirt that my friend lent me b/c it was cold this morning, but as soon as we started running, I was regretting wearing the extra layer and the weight of my belt.  I was last behind my two friends but caught up with one of them around mile 2 after taking advantage of some really steep, curvy roads.  But that didn't last too long; as soon as I caught up with my friend, we took a turn into "Steel Hill"--the infamous hill I heard about.  As we were running up, I didn't know that this was THE hill at the time, and I tried running but got cramps in my calves and started breathing heavily.  I had no other choice but to walk.  Most people were walking this and when we turned a corner and there was MORE steep hill, I realized that this was the hill I had heard so much about.  I think there might be only one runner in the race's history that has run up this hill without stopping to walk.
After that, we were mostly running in the woods encountering different terrain: muddy, rocky, grassy, flat, steep...everything you could ask for in a foot race!
I wasn't wearing a watch or anything, so basically I had no idea how far into the race I was until I asked another runner passing by who told me I was around mile 8 (he was doing the 60K!).  I've said before, I have no sense of direction or time apparently when I'm running, so I could probably just keep going on and on if it weren't for some knowledge of where I was exactly.  And sure enough, when I approached the last mile or so, and onlookers told us we were "almost there", that's the moment my legs started tightening up and I felt even more fatigued knowing that the end was near.
This is the longest distance I've EVER done, so I'm really pleased with this race.  The official results aren't in yet, but my friend says I was behind her by 5 or 6 minutes and estimated my time to be 2'23".

The other nice thing about the Indian Run is that they provide runners with complimentary massages, so I got one and it felt INCREDIBLE, lol.  Wish it could have lasted longer.  After all that, we came home, said goodbye to my friends and hubby, my brother and I went out for Greek food and now, I'm getting ready to take a nice, long nap:)

It was a perfect race with perfect weather, and I'm not feeling TOO bad overall, so hit me up with more races and more distance!

Nighty night!

Comments

Karen Bjork Kubin said…
Looks like a beautiful trail! Congratulations!
September 18, 2011 at 4:52 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life lately

By Gaby -
Image
There are good days and there are bad days.  The good days are when I'm distracted from all things concerning my mom, or the times I see her in person or over Skype and catch her smiling or talking normally and it calms my soul;  the bad days catch me by surprise and kind of piss me off, quite frankly.  Like yesterday-- I was doing just fine, as I think I'd been for the past week, until I sat down last evening and opened a book I picked up from the library that I'd seen on someone's recent book list:   When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalinithi.  I am not sure what I was thinking, reading a book written by a man around my age who died of terminal lung cancer shortly after writing it, especially in the midst of my own mother's terminal cancer diagnosis. I guess I thought it would help me come to terms with the concept of death and dying.  And it IS a good book--Kalinithi was a good writer, a neurosurgeon by training, but writer and philosopher at heart (he also had de
Read more

Just popping in to say...

By Gaby -
Image
Hello, world! Our little prince, Elliott Ryan, was born Friday morning, June 29th, at 10:13 am after a very quick labor and delivery (thank God!). Weight: 6 lbs, 0 oz. 18.9 inches We love him so much! While his entrance wasn't expected until the end of July, I had this strong feeling for a week that he'd be arriving soon:) We are adjusting to life with two kiddos, and sleep deprivation all over again:( but we are happy and healthy and I am INCREDIBLY grateful to be able to nurse this time. I'm looking forward to writing about Elliott's birth story soon. In the meantime, the past few days have been filled with endless diaper changes, a baby attached to my boob and lots and lots of snuggles and kisses:) Happy Fourth of July!
Read more

Graeters, skin problems and a 100th birthday (somehow these all seem related, but they're not)

By Gaby -
Image
As is typical of living in the Midwest, the weather around here has been unpredictable.  A few days ago I was able to go out without a jacket; two days later it's snowing and I have to break out the heavy winter jacket again. :/ I've been having problems with my skin for almost a year now.  At first, I attributed it to postpartum hormones (why not? that seems to be the case with almost everything else that's wreaking havoc on my body!) but also experimented with diet changes to see if maybe I had developed a new allergy.  I stopped dairy, coffee, soda and exercised more.  Welll, of course doing most of those things would be good for anyone, so it was hard to say if that's the reason my skin made improvements or not.  And then I wondered if the weather had anything to do with it.  Sigh, well, recently it had gotten even worse, so I started drinking twice as much water and cut out caffeine altogether.  After 3 or 4 days of that, my skin started clearing up. I suppose gi
Read more