Ready, Set, Hills!

I had an incredibly busy day planned today, so I knew when I went to bed last night that I would need to get up early this morning and get my run in...a 7 mile hill workout. I was already looking forward to my off day Friday and Thursday had not even come yet...needless to say I am not a morning person in any sense of the word...

I almost always set my alarm for my husband to get up for his run at 5am, as I did this morning, plus I had a second alarm set for 6:30am for myself thinking that I would be ready to go by 7 and my husband would be back by 7...I snoozed for 30 minutes, but was indeed ready to go running shortly after. Problem was I failed to inform my husband of my plan, and let's face it he knows I do not go running in the morning.  He did not get back from his run until 7:30, and he still had to take out the dogs, get ready for work and leave by 8:50. Yikes, better make this a quick workout and squeeze as many miles as I can around the North Hills. 

I took off, literally starting my run from the door and hit the park already at a good clip. Not only was I constrained by time to get back and relieve my husband, but I also wanted to try and beat the 8am traffic when the park opens up the west drive to commuters. Did I mention it was already 7:30am?

Straight to the North Hills I went, hoping I could run them in a "U" shape instead of a loop to get the most bang for my buck in the time I had...oh and also there was a movie being shot on the 102nd transverse which makes up part of my usual loop, so I needed to avoid that at all costs. Annoying.

I managed to get in 2 1/2 "Us" before the traffic hit, and hoofed it through the last one to round out my 3. This put me on the East side, away from frantic, obtuse commuters but also opposite the side of the park I live. So I ran South on the East drive and cut through above the reservoir, stuck to the bridle path on the bit of the West side I had to run, and again ran literally to the door. 

When I walked in my apartment, exhausted, the clock said 8:24. Just enough time. Whew, what a workout. I ended up covering 5.6 miles in about 50 minutes. That's an 8:55 pace people!