Wednesday BS(T) - Holy Crap Edition

So, a week after my brutal defeat at the hands of the mountain, I won.  I did it.  I ran up the portion of Bonneville Shoreline Trail that completely owned me last week - all the way to the top.  Truth be told, it was slightly anticlimactic.  I had expected to do maybe slightly better than last week, or maybe even worse, but to get it on the second try?  I guess I expected a few weeks of battling it out before finally succeeding.  Am I being a spoiled sport about it?  Maybe.  Am I still happy that I did it?  Very much so.  Here's a brief recap:

I was really excited to do this run again.  The excitement and anticipation had pretty much been building from the time I found out I'd be doing "The El Diablo", so by Tuesday night I was ready to go right then and run it.  Strangely, by the time Wednesday morning came I had lost most of that excitement and drive.  In retrospect, I think I was just tired.  Either way, I was still determined and excited, just not off-the-wall, get-me-out-there-now stoked.

When the time came, I changed and rode my scooter to the trailhead.  No braggadocio or, "Bring it on!" this time, just determination and some small amount of fear for what I thought I was about to do to myself.  My intention was to go and not stop until my body forced me to.  I wasn't sure what that would mean - barf, pass out, bonk, ?? but I was committed.

In spite of having lost for some reason the killer instinct I had the night before and trying to remain humble in the face of what I knew was a formidable challenge, as I hit the trailhead and started out, I had a brief thrill while I thought something like "It's on!"  You know, one of those awesome things you say to yourself in your head that pumps you up but would sound ridiculously silly if you said it out loud.  Other people do that, right?

My determination was tested pretty early on as there's a decently steep and decently long section right up front.  I was really suffering and fighting to keep moving but I told myself I had to at least make it past the point where I had first walked last week, which I did, then I made it to the tree I had stopped and stretched under, then I kept going, just like I told myself I would.

As I kept going I realized a few things.  For one, trail running is hard.  Harder than road running.  Specifically, it's hard on your ankles and feet.  The surface is not smooth, and it makes your ankles and feet work extra hard to keep you balanced and moving forward.  The other thing I realized was that looking up the hill was not a good way to do what I was doing.  The best way, I found, to slog out a difficult climb like that is to just put your head down and go, and don't stop going until you reach the top.  Looking to see how far I was from the top just made me discouraged.

And slog I did.  A couple of times the trail would mercifully ease to a much less steep, or even nearly flat incline.  This was fantastic.  My lungs and legs were very happy every time this happened, but alas the joy never lasted as long as I wished.  Another discovery during this slogging was that although I was suffering mightily, the suffering hovered pretty steadily at a "this really sucks" level, and never really progressed to the "I think I might barf/pass out/bonk" stage I expected.  This was awesome because it let me finish the climb, but secretly I must have been somewhat hoping for a better story to tell, because I didn't feel the elation at the top that I had expected.

At long last, 11 minutes and 20 seconds after my "It's on!" moment, I stood atop the hill.  If I was more hardcore I would have kept right on going, but as is I stopped my watch and took a minute to breathe really really really really really really (yeah, it was pretty dang hard, OK?) hard until things calmed down some.  After a minute or two, I kept going.  I ran to the point where the trail takes a sharp turn and decides to head up again, and that was plenty for me.  I turned around and headed down.

I wish I could say I ran the whole way down and made it in some crazy fast time.  Alas, this was not the case.  I actually walked several times on the way down, mostly because I was worried about the aforementioned bumpiness and its effect on my ankle, and because I actually began to feel a slight twinge in my left ankle, which I was anxious to keep at twinge level rather than moving it up to something more serious.  All in all, I finished in 31:23 - 2.8 miles including nearly a mile of brutally difficult climbing and the same amount of serious descending (how the heck do you run down a hill like that without feeling like you might break something?  Or without getting sideaches?  Help!).  A very good effort and a very pleasing result.  We'll see what next week brings.  I may add in the climb from 800 E to the parking lot, which could make things even more interesting (painful, but it hurts so good...).  I'll post what happens.

Just as an aside, thanks for nothing to those of you who read about my blog renaming and chose not to vote.  At all.  Seriously, you guys have no opinion on these things?  Yeesh.  Luckily for you guys I pretty much already had the one chosen that I wanted by the time I finished writing that post.  So, welcome, readers of my blog, "That Looks Like It Hurts".  I'm hoping shortly to be able to post about something exciting that gives the title a dual meaning, so keep checking back.

Wednesday Food:

• Oatmeal with sugar and craisins
• 1/4 cup chip mates with 1/2 cup skim milk
• Salad - tuna, 1/2 avocado, Craisins, almonds, kraft roasted red pepper dressing
• 1/3 cup Craisins
• 1/3 cup almonds
• 5 egg whites with salsa
• Sweet and Sour meatballs - 4 meatballs with sauce
• 1 very small baked potato
• ~1/4 cup bean casserole
• 1 slice of bread
• 6 egg whites, salsa
• 1/4 cup ice cream

Wednesday Exercise:

Umm, really you need me to say it again?  I guess I also did some more trampoline hole digging.

Today's Weight:

239.0

I was a little suspicious about yesterday's weight, as fun as it was to see it go so low so fast, but it would appear that it was indeed not completely accurate.  I suspect that my actual weight is somewhere between 237 and 239 and the differences up or down are due to water.  True, I didn't eat as well yesterday as I have been, but between my run and the digging those calories should be amply covered.  I think.  At least it feels better to tell myself that, so don't anybody go and pop my bubble of self-deception, OK?