13 Feb 2010

My penance for missing ECHO this morning

I had to skip my regular meetup with the ECHO Running Club this morning because of daughter-sitting duties at home.  But I was thrilled to see the sunshine and excited to get out and run when I was free to leave the house.

The plan this morning was to run 6 miles at 6am, and 6 more with the ECHO group at 7am, but that didn't work out.  So I concentrated my efforts on a 10-mile run and made up the missing 2 miles with the toughest hills on my side of Anderson.

Today's run featured a climb of Birney Lane and Eversole Road (http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/oh/cincinnati-/-anderson-township/717126607239389008), both with significant hills.  The MapMyRun link here shows an elevation chart that captures the Birney climb in miles 3 and 4 (200-300 feet?).  But the chart misses the challenges of climbing Eversole Rd in mile 6.  Eversole's got a steeper hill and 2 easier hills after, but there all short climbs.  The Birney climb is a series of 5 or 6 climbs over the space of a mile and a half -- it's like a 15-round boxing match for a sophomore runner like me.

Temp was about 25 degrees, with ample sunlight and NO wind.  The gloves came off during the Birney climb, and my hoodie-tube came off in mile 7.  It got pretty warm as the run went on.

As attested by the photos, today was a perfect winter day to run.

     
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