Today the plan was to drive out to the start of Hollow Rd, and run Hollow Rd to Blacksmith Fork, and then up to Blacksmith Fork to Lefthand Fork, where I would meet Cody (who was camping up there), and then we would run back down. This run can have a nasty headwind going up, and I wasn't looking forward to that. The good news was that there was absolutely no canyon wind today. The bad news was that the reason there was no wind was because it was pouring rain. By a few miles into the run I was completely soaked and angry at Cody since this was obviously somehow his fault. The only logical thing to do in this situation was to pick up the pace so that I could get to the turnaround point faster and begin verbally abusing Cody. However, by about 6 miles I was so soaked that I stopped caring and started enjoying the feeling of running hard up a canyon. After all, not so long ago I could barely walk, so I decided to be grateful for the opportunity to run in the rain. But I still kept the pace brisk. At about 7 miles I saw Cody's Jeep coming down (assuming it was just Beth and the kids and Cody would be running a little behind it). The Jeep slows, window rolls down, Cody pokes his head out. "What? You're running in this?? I didn't think you'd show." At that point I went back to my plan of verbally abusing Cody, and chastised him to the point of getting out of the Jeep, putting on running clothes, and running with me. My punishment for his lack of faith was making him continue up the canyon with me at whatever pace I was going (turned out to be 6:20/mile). We finally got to my 9-mile point. My average up the canyon was 6:30/mile (splits were 6:47, 6:32, 6:31, 6:33, 6:25, 6:25, 6:25, 6:16, 6:35). Then we turned around and started going downhill. The rain also started easing up. And my legs were starting to feel the work they did going up. Since I was no longer angry, I had less fuel to run fast, but we tried to keep the pace honest but conversational. Splits were 6:09, 6:08, 6:23, 6:13, 6:06, 6:08, 6:21, 6:18, 6:16. Halfway down the canyon the rain completely stopped, and my hands regained feeling. My legs were definitely worn out by the end, as this was the longest run I've done in quite some time, but overall legs and fueling weren't terrible, but on the other hand it was less than 2 hours. Again, no wind on the way down. Average pace for the entire run was 6:22/mile. Total time a little under 1:55. All in all, in good run, despite the rain it was a great day to be out.
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