Tail of the Monitor (Part II)

"Welcome home!"

My mind was whispering to me as I walked out the garage door at 9 PM at night. The air was so hot and muggy, you could feel it as it pressed up against your skin and clung there, like an early morning dew. Despite the conditions, I felt extremely lucky to be getting out at all. The restaurant had interfered with my plans for the evening. I had wanted to go to the track and try the "Blaine Moore Method" to determine my maximum heart rate. It just wasn't meant to be.

Arriving home late, my two wonderful boys are carrying on like they don't need any parents. #1 has been moving furniture into his sister's old room. God bless him! He painted the walls Auburn (the University of) orange while I was in Charleston. I guess its better to ask for forgiveness than permission. #2 son had been moving all of his stuff out of his old room and into #1's old room. Busy boys are happy boys.

Deciding to forgo my normal warmup, I took off on a slow jog to the top of subdivison. For this first part of my run, I wanted to keep my heart rate below 150. As I climbed the gentle slope to the entrance, my heart rate settled in around a comfortable 145. I picked up pace as I settled into my comfort zone. Down a slight incline, up by the pool, down into the Valley of Death and into the teeth of Mount Doom.

Not today, baby! You are mine.

And it was. I climbed Mount Doom without stopping, heart rate approaching 165. As I settled into my glide down the gentle slope to the entrance of the neighborhood, my heart rate settled in at 150, and I hit the first mile marker at 12 minutes.

Yea, I love running downhill!

After 1.3 miles, I settled into my first walk. For two minutes, I caught my breath, then I settled back into my run. Now for the worst part, the uphill climb back home. Yea, it was tough. I'm trying to run a little more of it each time, but the going is rough. I probably ended up walking about half of it. I ran down the back side of Mount Doom and into the Valley of Death. I took as much of Ass-Kicker as I could take, about 30%, before I had to walk up that monster as well. I went right past the entrance to my subdivision. Today was going to be a 4+ miler.

The last mile of the run was good. The back area of my subdivision is relatively flat with a few hills. The final hill before the downhill run to my home is a close kin of Ass-Kicker. As I approached it, I gritted my teeth and vowed not to stop.

168, 169, 170, 171.

Higher and higher I climbed. Higher and higher my heart rate climbed. I couldn't catch my breath. My head was spinning. OK. It wasn't THAT bad, but this is a story :-) As I reached the top, my heart rate monitor was beeping at 174. That's pretty high I thought, and it slowly declined as I jogged downhill back into home base. I spent the next four to six minutes cooling down. Finally, I gave up and went inside into the air conditioning.

What a run! Four plus hilly miles. I think I walked like 5 times, and I KNOW I'll be getting there as I take more and more of those hills and grind them under my running shoe. Till next time...

Finish strong!

Wes

ORN: 53:22, 4.15 miles, 12:30 pace, Run 8/Walk 2 (or there abouts)