Yesterday was the
Mt. Ashland hillclimb run. It's a 13.3 mile run with 56oo vertical feet of climbing. I have been training for this event all summer, well sorta. More like I've been dreading the pain from this event all summer. After a week on the bike at sea level I figured that I may be a bit tired, but to make the mental situation even worse, I couldn't help but notice that my work outs this week pretty much sucked. I ran on Tues. for the 1st time in over 2 weeks - had to walk a lot of the steep sections, was coughing up a lung all night, it pretty much wiped me out and it was only 5 miles. Wed. wasn't much better. I went mtn biking with a couple of my friends. From what I could tell, they weren't even breathing hard. Maybe I couldn't hear them over my wheasing nor see them through the blur of sweat that was stinging my eyes. I was off the back within 2 miles with sweat dripping off my chin, nose, elbows...pretty much suckin ass. In yoga on Thurs I was so stiff I could hardly get myself into warrior 1 and then my legs were so weak I could hardly hold the stance. Extreme fear set in by Friday morning, but I shuttled my car to the parking lot anyway and road my mtn bike down from the top. One pain free outdoor adventure of the week. Daryn drove up from Santa Rosa and arrived around 8 on Friday nt. It was his b-day (yes, he's even nuttier than I am - he ran this thing on his b-day weekend! and it was he who egged me on to actually committ to this thing. I made the mistake of mentioning it once and the next thing I knew I got an e-mail saying the he had signed up and attached was his training schedule. Even at the time I thought - dear god, what have I done...there's no backing out now.) Since it was his b-day we went to dinner, had a couple of beers and ended up staying out way too late for a 5:30 am wake up call. whadda ya do.
As it turned out though, I think making this run out to be hellish torture and the extended dread actually made the climb a lot easier. I was able to let go of any expectation so I wasn't pressuring myself. I just made a goal to run to Toothpick w/o stopping (WAY further up the hill than I have ever ran without walking) and gave myself permission to walk the rest of the way if need be. I ran to Toothpick and kept on going. Before I even knew what happened I was at 4 Corners and the part I feared the most was behind me. I was able to keep up with Daryn so I had some company for the last 7 miles (cause I really only enjoy 6 mile runs - after that they become really hard on me) and it was a beautiful day up on the mountain so I was enjoying the flowers and scenery. All in all, I felt pretty good during the event. I feel pretty good today too. I will definately do it again next year.
This weekend a friend showed me something new. We went to the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area, We did a 9 mile hike out to the Chetco River and hung out for the afternoon. It was nice to hang out, swim, take a nap and relax. Of course, there was the 9 miles back to the car after all the down time, but the light was nice and we were able to stop and take some photos. We saw a stand of very interesting plants - the carnivorous Cobra Lily.
There as this random rusted out truck at the confluence of the trails. It was decent light for some b&w. The entire wilderness area was burned in the 2002 Biscuit Fire. These trees still had pine cones on it. They have hung on for 6 years - impressive.
The Chetco River is at the bottom of that valley. It was a long, steep trail with quite a few down trees. It was a work out!
Peter 
