The hills were fun! Or maybe I'm just crazy?

Tonight's hill workout was fun! After the crazy hard hills two weeks ago, and compared to the BIG hill at Newhall Park in Concord last season, these were easy! I guess perspective is everything. I ran for just under 30 minutes total, including the warm-up, so it wasn't too long, which was nice. I'm sure I'll feel it in my hamstrings and glutes tomorrow, but that's the point!

Coach Al timed us on the first and last of five routes/loops. The first time we could use our own watches, in addition to his "official" time. The second time we had to temporarily donate our treasured time pieces to his red Santa bag. (OK, I confess, mine is a $10 velcro jobbie from Target; not so treasured!) The point was to see who could get the closest to their original time.

Pretty much everyone ran faster by a smidge. It had to do with anxiety/anticipation, and Coach Al's point was that we need to learn how to deal with this anxiety on race day so we don't go out too fast and burn up our energy. ("Go out fast, die like a pig," a la Coach Tim.) We need to learn what our true pace is, not as measured by a watch, but as felt in our bodies. It was quite a revealing little exercise. I definitely felt "pressure" to run a bit faster the second time, and I did come in 10 seconds quicker.

Running aside, the view from atop the hill was stunning -- to the east, golden hills in the distance; to the west, a brilliant orange-pink swath of color as the sun set. Beautiful for sure, but it made me sad that the days are getting shorter. Indeed, by the time we finished, it was pretty dark and my headlamp came in handy (I remembered to bring it!).

One last note -- Danville is full of ridiculously palatial mansions! I had never been to that part of the town before (just the downtown area). Now I know why Danville is "money"!