Mountain Discovery #1

Last night was the first run of the Tussey Mountainback Discovery Series. This is the run up Laurel Run Road from Tussey Ski Area: 3.2 miles up, then 3.2 miles back down.

I did a really poor job of preparing for this run. The previous night I had done hill repeats on the bike with my lovely wife. And I got stuck at work a little later than expected, so I got to Tussey about one minute before the start. I had planned on running my way warm, but that was a little extreme.

Running up the "mountain" was rough; much more difficult than I remembered. There were several times that I thought about walking, but I kept in my mind that I have done this run several times, including once as the start to an 11-miler. So I refused to quit, and just chugged away, glutes stinging. I stuggled to the top in 32 minutes.

After I turned around, I felt much better. I wasn't going all-out, because I was a little tired for that, but I was running at a good clip. I hit the last switchback and was surprised to find that I couldn't see anyone behind me. Of course, the leaders were out of site, too. I finished the run back down in just over 25 minutes, so 57 minutes overall. Whew!

Next week is one of my favorite runs; legs two and three of the Mountainback, which is just over 8 miles, all downhill. I'm looking forward to it already.