Wow! You haven't lived until you run Mount Cootha!
What an awesome, mind boggling 18km experience. To willingly put your body through the pain of 4km of constant uphill, followed by undulating hills where just as you think you have it easy on the downhill another steep ascent looms.....
But can you belive I was grinning madly the whole time?
Actually no I wasn't. Thinking back, I was almost in tears when we stopped at the base for the first drink stop and toilet before running up to the top. It looked pointless, unfun and dishearteningly big. However one more big cheerio from Tess and a big squeeze on my arm and we were off. Time to tackle the mountain, no time for crying.
For the first part I ran alongside Rachel, but then decided I needed to be on the inside of the road and really focus on this, so I went in front and just looked down at the bitumen. Left, right, left right. Hopefully not having to look up too much and see that the road was actually in front of my face in the real steep parts!!!
Rachel turned back (as planned) after 4km (1km of uphill mountain). Tesso and Tara were running together which left me with Nick *groan* who wanted to talk about training and how my life was going and how good peoples butts looked in skins...as I was wearing them I said "Nick leave me alone I am not going to flash my boobs again!! I was sure he was just running with me because I and tried to show the girls my new leather HR strap and inadvertantly flashed some flesh.
So here I was trying not to laugh the whole way up the mountain....
A cyclist was looming and it was a game to catch them. We were going past them quite easily now. One had a seat on the back and Nick offered to pull em up if he could catch a lift down. I don't think they understood the "runners humour".
So before you know it we were at the top! Wooo Hooo.
Mark (ihatetoast) was waiting for me and did a half a bridge for me to run under at the top. Sheryl dropped off the other group so by the time Tesso and Tara got there we had a good group to do a big bridge for Tara to run under to celebrate her first run up.
The rest of the run went in a blur. Totally transforming. It was shady, sunny, gorgeous views and you actually felt like you were working the body to run up and down the various undulations. So much more interesting than a flat road.
At one stage I got all emotional and thanked the guys I was running with for sharing this with me. They bagged me and Nick pretended to cry. Ungrateful lout. Won't be running with him again :)
So I am back in one piece and after wearing the skins all day yesterday afterwards I am not even the slightest bit sore. Just damn keen to run it again.
I know the next time will be harder as I won't have the high of a first time achievement, but I hope to enjoy it nonetheless.
Big hugs to Tesso for draggin me out there and pushing me up the hill. An amazingly supportive friend who believed in me the whole time.
Damn those Fruit Frappes tasted great when they finally arrived didn't they???!!!!
4 comments:
Woohoo!! Well done Clairie on doing what sounds like such a tough run, so well :-)
Thank you for your comment on my blog. I really appreciate it and yes, I accept your challenge
:-)
J.
What a difference a week makes!!!! Congratulations, it was a real pleasure to see you arrive at the top.
Woohoo Clairie - you little legend!!!
How good was that! It really is one tough run. Ha ha, you and Tara being nervous at the start had me nervous even though I've run it dozens of times.
Running in Brissie doesn't get much better. Neither do running mates, how lucky are we to have such a fun and supportive bunch to hang out with. Best thing is we get to share in the pleasure of their running achievements - you and Tara weren't the only ones grinning :-)
Next challenge, a double lap. You'll never wipe the smile off your face after that. Can't wait!
WWow Clarie - sounds like a great hill to run up. Well done :-)
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