Today I ran my leg. It was 17 km that was one long hill. And not the good kind (downhill). This was all up. (See the profile.) Strangely, there were places where it felt like downhill, but if a car is put in neutral you find that it was still going up. Optical illusion reinforced by a more gradual slope.
The first half hour was terrible. I was breathing heavily and wondering why I had signed up for this. The headwind didn’t help. After that, it actually didn’t feel that bad. I made good progress. The last half hour was once again horrible. It was a steep hill and it killed me. I usually did “ten and ones” (run ten minutes then take a one minute walk break) but on that final hill I was down to five and ones. I think I ran out of oxygen (altitude does that), which was weird because you would think the headwind was forcing it into me.
In the end I got a time of 1:39:08, which is about two and a half minutes faster than last year. Which means I want to try and do better next year.
There was an evening barbecue. It was interrupted by a bear wandering by on a high ridge until it was scared away by people with large guns and bear bangers. It was quickly blown out of proportion with people claiming it was a grizzly. I’m waiting until it becomes a polar bear.
Now I am relaxing at the Kananaskis lodge. I thought they might have wireless internet, but it looks like I have to pay for it. I’m cheap so I’ll post this later when I do have access. I’m thinking of abusing the pool, but there is a party for our group happening. I might go in the middle of the night. I haven’t had a good soak in a long time.
Of course the problem with that plan is that I am tired now. (And sunburnt.) I’m not physical tired, but sleepy tired. Mountain air is doing that to me. The air is also dry so if I start coughing, it takes me awhile to stop. My ankle is hurting, it has been since I finished the run. (It didn’t hurt during.) And I really want to brush me teeth. They hurt from all the sugar I horked back while trying to maintain energy.