Oh what a run! (Said in the voice of the late Michael Hegstrand, aka Hawk.) This is one of my favorite runs. I wish I could do it more often. My friend Glen, who has run on my Ragnar team the last two year and will be again in Feb., and I went out to Usery Pass. This used to be part of the Ragnar course until they changed it last year. I love the challenge of the uphill and the reward of the downhill. Mile 1 - 8:34 - There is a 179 foot elevation gain. We were pushing it pretty hard. Mile 2 - 9:13 - 248 foot elevation gain (4.7%.) This is the steepest mile, and we were still pushing it. Mile 3 - 9:23 - 185 foot elevation gain - We slowed down a little. Mile 4 - 8:44 - We reached the top at 3.67, another 85 feet, but the steep part was behind us so we were able to speed back up some. Almost a 700 foot climb. I don't think I've ever run up it that fast before. The last 0.33 miles was 31 foot drop. Mile 5 - 8:37 - The turn around was at 4.56, a drop of 56 feet, so we had one last climb ahead of us once we turned around. Glen took off and got to the turn around about 30 seconds before me, then waited for me. I had to stop near the shooting range to take a small rock out of my shoe that had been there the whole time. The shooting range always makes me nervous.
Mile 6 - 8:45 - Glen and I were running together until we got to the steeper downhill portion, which I was really looking forward to. Mile 7 - 7:40 - A lot of people like to ride their bikes up and down this hill. It was kind of nice to show off that we were doing it on foot. This mile felt great, but I thought I was running a little faster. Mile 8 - 7:39 - Glen was starting to pull away from me. I clocked him about 45 seconds ahead of me. Mile 9 - 7:48 - I'm not sure if I've ever run a sub 8 on a 9th mile before. Gotta love downhills. Last 0.12 - 0:58 (7:40 pace) - Glen had finished about a minute before me but kept going down the road a little way then turned around and came back. After catching our breath we drank a little Amino Vital. I got a free sample from the internet. It's supposed to be a good recovery drink. It tasted all right, but it left me thirsty for water. Oh, and I met RUN2DAY today. He's a real nice guy, but then I already knew that. His name is Bruce. Henceforth he shall be known as Bruce RUN2DAY. He invited me to join the East Valley Runners. I'll have to check it out.
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