Yet Another Night 20

Tiss the season....for running through the jungle night. Friday December 5, 2008. This was scheduled as a forty, but we ended up doing a twenty. My knees were a bit sore, I fell, and Marico had a very weak ankle.

The loop started slow, with Fish hanging back from me, and my body rebelling at the need to climb the Hog Back. It was hard going up the first two sections of the ridge and I began to get a bit of a wind by the time we hit Too Steeps. At the Darkside I was surprised to find that we were on schedule. Pushing a bit harder we hit the top of Hogback at about 20. OK. But the down through Staircases was hard, and my knees were not happy right from the start. I could not get myself to go. I tried to get Fish to go ahead, but he seemed to know that if he left me I would just flake. Instead he hung back farther, allowing me to set my own pace, and keep him at a distance. A sly tactic that motivates me to push to widen the gap. I can surprise him on occasion and actually loose him around a corner or up a hill. But Fish is just cruising and when he downshifts he is right back up to me.

We pushed hard up Mangos and Nahuina, the trail in good soft conditions with only the occasional muddy pit. We hit the Kalawahine trail head at 55. I was satisfied. Fish spoke with Maricio and he would be coming down the trial to meet us. I pushed kalawahine hoping to hit the Junction by 1:15. We ran into Maricio and he fell in behind us. I was at the Junction by 1:15 and pushed up the switchbacks to the Maproom. It was a beautiful night. The light of the city lit our way in places, and then it was utter darkness in the ravines. We hit the maproom at 1:25 or so and I just dropped down into the cutoff without a stop. Hitting the flats I danced across the roots trusting to luck to get me through. No stop at the Pie stand, and just keep going down into Paradise. It was 2:00 hours at the Falls. 2:15 at the parking lot.

We turned and moved back up with barely a stop. We were back at the falls at 2:32, and up to the top quickly. I pushed on and we hit the bench at the grassy knoll at 3:15. I knew Marico was having trouble as he was hanging back, but I'm the slow one. I knew if I stopped I'd just loose the pace and fall behind. I kept pushing, keeping an eye out for his light, and knowing we'd pass at the bottom. We were at the turn around before 4:00 and headed back out.

Times became a bit unclear here as we were pushing, up the hill, then pushing the trail out of the grassy knoll. We reached the Map Room before 5:00. A sub-six was in my grasp. We just powered the Cliffs trail. It was raining and windy. It got slippery and both Fish and I were sliding here and there. I took a major down, mostly landing on my butt and back. But I used my arm a bit when I hit and it jammed it. I got up hurting, but the adrenalin of the fall gave me a bit more energy and we pushed on.

It was the same run I have done in the past weeks, but just a bit faster. The trails had been trimmed and that helped. The weather was perfect. I could smell a sub-six and that was important. We pushed on through the bamboo, the cliff trail, into the forest of Moleka, and down toward the bench. At the bench my clock read 5:35. It was 5:45 near the top of the Center trail and then with a final mad push we dropped into the Nature center at 5:54

My PR for a night loop I believe. It was a good six hours of hard concentration. None of it was particularly fast. It was just constant, never stop, never waiver kind of a run. The downs being just a bit faster than the ups. The long ups being just a minute or two slower than the downs.
Hard stuff. But I did what I wanted.

My knees are bothering me, and I believe it is a tendon issue. I will be massaging it a bit more in the coming days. It concerns me that I have not done a 40 in a long time. My longest run run was about a 43 at the Peacock. I need to get in a few fifties before the HURT. But a 5:54 felt good. Like I said to Fish. From now on its slower loops until the HURT itself. I've done my speed training. Now its just endurance, and time on the trail.