Running with Friends.

It is often hard, when you get into the training mode to remember that one of the best things about 'running' the trails is the chance to spend time with good friends. Conversation out there in the midst of the rain forest often progresses at a relaxed pace and as the trail permits. This often means that people have time to think and reflect before responding. It means better and deeper communication than one might obtain over a cup of coffee or amidst the gang at the start line of a race.

But like I said you have to weigh the costs of communication against the costs of training. Old friends, and in my case that has come to mean the upper echelon of the HURT gang, are often less likely to be 'on pace' as you head up the Hogback and somewhere along Roots and Rocks you may have to make a decision: Am I training hard, or am I running with a good friend? As one who habitually takes the back of the pack position on race day it is hard for me to do the switch. Others, like Fish, have developed a truly benevolent character, and do it regularly. But the point is that often training with friends requires some decision making.
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Cheryl Shows No Mercy

I'd had this run with Cheryl scheduled, and postponed for a week. So I was going out on Tuesday despite the Monday run. My hanai nephew David was in town and needed to hit the trails two so I figured it would be a good time to take him out too.

Well, I wanted to run Hogsback, figuring I'd stay with Cheryl the rest of the way. So, I split fast after crossing the Nature Center bridge, and left Cheryl tying her shoe....ultra runners show no mercy. I pushed up Hogsback, breathing hard, feeling yesterdays 20 and trying to make something of the attempt. David was lingering behind me and I knew he was just waiting to pounce. Young Punks, you can always tell what they are up to. The trick it to wear 'em out or out fox 'em. 15+ minutes up Hogsback makes either a bit of a challenge with somebody who has done HURT loops, Ultra wierdness, and organized mayhem. But I was into trying to leave David sucking air. I tried all the standard tricks, running where nobody should run, striding up the steepest steeps, skipping over the roots, and even reverse psychology like breathing hard and gagging when it wasn't necessary. I couldn't shake him. Finally, after waiting to the last fifty yards, I just started sprinting. The Punk was just too aware, and he passed me five yards from the top. Hey, he's my nephew, so I didn't kick his ass for the insult. 'Goo Jaw Brahhh' I gasped at the top, meaning every word. My onlysatisfaction is that it was a 17 and much slower than yesterdays 15.
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PR comes alive

Well, I guess the kind of training that I feel most comfortable with, the kind of training that I can fit in during the late afternoon, the kind of training that doesn't require I drive to the other side of the island, is actually paying off.

Went out with Fish to do a HURT loop this morning. We did the turn, hit three balls and I knew there was something different about the day as I stared down at 3:10 where it has been about 4:oo. We pushed up the HOGBACK and I felt good, and it wasn't until we hit Tree Forts that Fish began to harangue me to get me to do the last hundred yards as well as I had done the previous. It worked and we hit the top of Hogsback in 15:25. A PR, but hell every section was going to turn into a PR so just let that be understood.
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Running Everyday

I've been out on the trails everyday now for the past two weeks. I'm getting in about 5 to 9 miles per day. Mostly HURT trails, the first section of up Hogsback, Crossover, up Makiki Valley to Nahuina, and then up Concretes. I come back which ever way seems to suit me at the time. That includes a retrace, down the back and east or west along Manoa Cliffs, and up and down the Makai slice of Pu'uohia trail back to the road. Today I went out and did a midday Round Top, cross-over and home. Good Psudo-Peacock training.

I was out of commission for a while, and this daily two hours seems to be helping me get back into it. But I got to admit that it is a slow recovery, and it does not look like I am going to be able to do the '61 days of HURT' for my 61st birthday. I don't know if that will ever be a reality. But in its stead I am working doing a highly scaled back 61st observance. It will be a bit of Whimp I must admit, but it is something. I'm going to do a 100K run each month (61+miles) over the course of the year. This will be a bit more manageable. In conjunction with this I plan to volunteer at the hospice either 6 hours a week or perhaps as much as 61 hours a month. I have to think about the logistics on that one. But I will be volunteering considerably more than I have been over the past years. I'm more effective as a volunteer than a contribution magnet.
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Triple Trek

I've been having a problem getting back into running since the Maui Madness Run in late July of 170 Miles. Not that that was a run, but the effort did me in and I was hit with a round of depression and utter physical exhaustion about a week after the run. Getting back on the trails was difficult. Everything else seemed to come down on me very hard.

My late summer plans were to go to Glacier with Don and the gang and then do the Plain. It didn't seem to work out well. Family concerns, problems at the house, my general worn down state, all led to me deciding not to go and eating the ticket. Its has been a rough month.
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