The image to the left is a cut out from the exact words from
my Training Peaks Workout of the Day provided by Coach Danielle Sullivan. While I am usually the kind of guy who laces
up and walks out the front door to get his run in, I decided to drive about 20
minutes to taking on the Official
Selden Hills Training Route for first time.
Several years back I did a race called Conquer the Hills 5K
where you tackle only the biggest hills on Long
Island
on
Adirondack Dr
and
Berkshire Dr. The
Selden Hills Warrior Training Route
starts on
Middle Country Road
in a shopping center that has a large retail section that has been empty for
some time. The run begins in the parking
lot then turns south on Adirondack to warm you up for the bigger hills and eventually
back north on
Berkshire and
Blue Point Road, for a great 10K run.
I drove up to the parking lot that had about 4 cars parked
in the middle. I noticed a couple take
off and two guys twisting and warming up.
They were waiting around for someone, but I guess he eventually did not
show up. Another person drove up and
parked next to me. That prompted me to
hop out as well. I shook the their hands
and introduced ourselves. Seemed like
they have done it many times and I must have looked like a "deer in
headlights" rookie ready to do something that might be the coolest and
stupidest thing to do on a wintery Sunday morning. We eventually squeezed ourselves into a
selfie on to Rich's Phone before taking off.
We lined up on an imaginary start line in the ice patch and
all of us raised our wrists to start our GPS watches. For some reason, I thought it was funny. We headed out of the parking lot and the
other 3 people in the group started to create more and more distance between
us. They kept on stretching their
lead. I would crest over one hill and
think that was it, and then I still see them climbing the next. Then on the next hill, I could barely see
them two hills away and I could see the peaks of a few more hills. Eventually they were out of site. So I was alone, which I am perfectly fine
with.
I prefer to focus on my Zen like moments not worrying about
being too fast or too slow. Actually I
am a horrible running partner as my wife can tell you. I usually zone out whenever I run with her,
then she gets upset when I forget to turn around. I will save that for another blog, but I
probably have wrote about it in the past anyway.
It took me about an hour and fifteen, which I was okay
with. A typical 10K for me is under an
hour. The conditions dictated otherwise
and the extra 2 to 3 minutes per mile was fine with me. It helped me stay light on my feet and it was
an easy pace as per my Coach who wanted me to focus on time rather than go all
out to prepare for an upcoming 50K. In
fact, if I ran faster, I would have been walking back to my truck limping and
pissed off.
I passed many homeowners clearing their driveways with the
sound of a single-stroke small engines purring in the background. The smell of exhaust filled different pockets
of air as I ran by a few homes. As I
headed up and down the hills I look for some crusty snow on the pavement to
give me more traction, but I was still not sure if there was ice underneath to
slip way. Eventually, I reached the top of Adirondack where you find a giant radio tower located
there. My guess is that Marconi realized
that was the best spot to place an antenna.
As I think about it, the flat parts of the course were the
worse. It seemed like the ice was solid
and I slide a few times. Rosemont was
the worst of all the streets that resembled a giant ice skating rink! In fact, that is where I caught up to the
group, and they slipped and slided right past me.
Berkshire was less dramatic
but proved to be just as tough of a climb.
During one of the climbs, I noticed a yellow sign with the word HILL,
and thinking that was funny to place that sign there, when there are at least 2
dozen hills in this neighborhood.
Eventually, I saw Middle
Country Rd and the parking lot entrance on the
right. I crossed the street and dashed
towards where I started. The group that
I started with was chatting away as I approached. I paused for a moment to let them know that I
still had to run for another half an hour.
And thanked each one for sticking around.
As I headed out for another thirty minutes, I was really
appreciative to Rich S. and Brian M. who never leave any Warriors behind. It felt like an official stamp that I am now
a Selden Hills Warrior. It felt nice to
know that others were worried about me as I posted that I was taking on the
hills (Christina T and Kim D)
I figured 10 minutes out on to Adirondack,
cut across one of the streets back to Blue
Point Rd and back home. As it turns out all the right turns on Adirondack ended up as dead ends, so I backtracked on and
made a left on to Mooney Pond Rd
then on to Blue Point Rd.
I found myself touching the light pole where I started for
no particular reason, which was interesting because I found out that your run
is not complete unless you touch the light pole as per a Facebook post exchange
with Kim D.
What a great group to be part of and landscape to run on!
.
