Staring Each Other Down

So training season is underway for the Marine Corps Marathon, and for the first month of it, I've been a bit of a slacker. I mean, I've been running, but I've been shoving workouts around, putting them off, and letting them fall back. I am not dramatically behind on my training, but I want to do better this year than last, so my attitude has to change.

Well, on my runs in Omaha, these two hills knocked the wind out of my sail a number of times. One of them is a long, medium grade hill (1/2 mile at 6% or so). The other is shorter, just 100m or so, but probably at over twice that grade. On top of all that, the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) has two major hill factors - the beginning and the end. The beginning has two big hills, one a gain of about 200 ft over about 2.25 miles, and the second has a gain of about 100 ft over about 1 mile. They didn't cause me any trouble. I hardly noticed them for the all the excitement and adrenaline. But at the end there is an hill that puts on about 100 ft over a mile and half, and of course, there is the infamous finish. At mile 26 or so, one must ascend an exit ramp (I kid you not) off of VA-110 to the finish line at the top of the ramp. I suppose if you run on a highway, you have to run on exit ramps. But what a place to put an exit ramp!

So I have decided to go on the offense against hills. Here's the one that I will be using as my proving grounds. My roommate (also training for the MCM) and I have a not so affectionate name for her, but in public, I will let it suffice to call her the Hill Monster.


Some things to note about the Hill Monster. She is located exactly 1 mile from our house. So there is a nice warmup to get to the workout, and a nice cooldown to get back. And the distance run on the Hill Monster can be pretty nicely estimated because she is so perfectly 1/4 mile long. At 79 ft (almost 8 stories), the Hill Monster is a pretty big girl. She is graded as steeply as 17% (!), about 3x as steep as the nastier hills on the marathon. It's all too perfect for a hill work out. I couldn't make this up.

So tonight we did battle for the first time. It was epic. I felt like Bard of Laketown doing battle with Smaug the Dragon. Like Beowulf fighting Grendel. Roland versus the Moors. I mean, this is David and Goliath stuff. The plan was to run up down her at an easy, recovery pace 8 times. After each descent, turn around, and run back up like I was chasin' a rabbit. Specifically, I wanted to run each up-and-down lap Kenyan-style. That means doing the second part (in this case, the uphill) faster than the first part. It gets hard after a while. So that I wouldn't miscount, I set 8 pennies on a ledge, and removed one as I finished each ascent.

Well, the results are mixed. The pennies did prevent miscounts, but they didn't prevent all the mind games that runners (or at least I) can pull. I started the workout somewhat late (8:40-ish) and had a 10 p.m. appointment with Jesus in my parish adoration chapel. I am gonna put that down as the official reason for my strategic withdrawal after 4 laps. I do know that not having brought water, and it being still warmish out, and not having really eaten since 2 p.m. or so, and... excuses, excuses, excuses... lol. But as I mentioned before, it wasn't a failure. I did successfully Kenyan it, and even with the lazy downhills and the nasty uphills, my average pace was 7:53 min/mi, well faster than what I need to run for my marathon goal. So I am basically gonna say I had the firepower to beat her, but not the supply lines or time. Next time I'll make sure I start earlier and do at least 6 laps.

In any event, the Hill Monster and I have not done battle for the last time.

That makes me think of something I've heard in the confessional over and over again, and very truly, I think. Like battling my dear Hill Monster, the Christian life does not require perfection, but persistence, in the journey with Jesus wherever He may lead. I feel like that requires having a will that is steel to the world, but play dough for Jesus. That's hard for a lot of reasons. That's probably one of the reasons I need Him.