The incident at Creekbend

What a beautifully perfect morning to race! As we drove to Creekbend vineyard this morning the sun was just coming up and it was a one of the first, of many I hope, crisp mornings to run a race. I will be honest I don't like to race trails or anything other than roads. I do not remember(too long ago)how and why I loved cross country in high school. Younger legs then I guess and lots of practice and maybe stronger? Who knows. But we ventured to the vineyard today. As we pulled in I immediately imagined retiring and owning my own vineyard. But first things first, I have a race to run. Now I say "run" but I am not sure I would call what I do on the off-roads running. It resembles running and I seem to be working my leg muscles but it is never pleasant or comfortable. I mean sometimes when I run I can get in a groove where I feel like I am floating effortlessly. Not today! The course was actually quite awesome and planned well. Along with the already challenging terrain there were 3 hills that each in their own way hurt like hell. After "jogging" the first 2 plus miles just for fun they surprised us with a hill called, "the hill of death." Doesn't sound good and wasn't. I attempted to run up, then modified that to jog up, then at just the moment I convinced myself that walking would be just as fast and use less energy, I hear an onlooker to this inhumane punishment say, "are you okay?" Do you believe that? At just the worst possible time, when I need encouragement, I hear that. Meanwhile Oscar passes me RUNNING the hill! Of course after cresting he let out the "F-bomb." There were children there. I caught back up to Oscar and we ran together for a while. At this point I am reminding myself of the beautiful grounds and this is just for fun, right? The finish thank goodness was downhill. My time, depending on the actual length of the course(4.3 or 4.1?) was not good but I recovered quickly and ran the course again, backward so i could see the hill of death from the other side. I love doing warm down and seeing runners and encouraging them. All in all the race was well organized and I am glad I did it. Got 4th overall. Scott was awesome and wasn't even sweating afterward. Showoff. Looking forward to next weekend's Bloomingfoods 5k on the roads. Next year I will be back at Creekbend and I hope to spread the the legend of the hill of death and challenge others to conquer it.