A hill...

Last Saturday the New York Times ran an article about a trail on a hill. This trail is lined with railroad ties and the hill is actually Pikes Peak. With a gain of 2000 feet in about a mile one begins to understand why it is called the "Incline" among those who use it, and apparently, we are about to see a lot of people who use it in training starting on Friday. Yes, Olympians use it to better themselves no matter their sport.

Am I jealous? Oh yes. The closest thing we have around here is Jersey Hill, a 1/5th mile stretch with a gain of about 50 feet according to mapmyrun.com. The only other thing close to this is a parking garage, which, we do have a few, but always taking right or left turns gets old real quick. In the opposing view we have wonderful surroundings for easy runs. If a person needs an easy run the least they need do is head to the Constitution Trail, an old railroad track turned trail, and they will be in heaven.

The biggest reason I am jealous is that when I go to races with real hills I am like a fish out of water. The Akron Marathon is one such race. They don't proclaim to be "flat and fast," which I interpret as be prepared for hills and this September I will truly find out to what they are referring.

Fabled Masks...

There have been many stories about China's pollution problem, especially in Beijing and the US has eluded that they would wear masks because it is so bad. Finally, on August 5th, there is a sighting of US athletes wearing the masks. These masks have been eluded to be very secretive in their capabilities because when the Today Show, I believe, interviewed a coach and discussed the masks someone off camera quieted him quickly. There reasoning was they did not want to world to know the capabilities of these masks. I have a short list of what I think makes them so special.

1. They double as ninja masks.
2. They reduce the amount of oxygen intake to mimic high altitude training.
3. They let other Americans know "who is in the club."
4. They are a fashion statement.
5. It was the closest thing they could think of to be like the dancing dragon.
6. They are the best place to hold your GU.
   

These are all I could think of at spur of the moment. If you have any better ideas, lets hear it.

Friends for Speed...

I am always surprised how running with others makes my running better. Although this is true, I have to portion it out like eating cookie dough. If a person eats too much they crash; hard. It is the same with me, if I always ran with others I would soon tire of it and my introverted self would need a long solo run.

There are two main instances in training that I have found group running to be the most beneficial. The first is doing track workouts. Others always seem to bring out my sense of competitiveness and my repeats are much faster than doing it alone. The second is long runs. When I do long runs by myself I am more likely to stop and walk when I get past the half way mark. I even try to vary the route to keep it mentally exciting, but my ultimate keep going tool is other people. I have even been known to run a personal record, by 20 seconds, in a 5k in March because I ran with faster friends during the winter months.

There is one other great value I find from running besides being pushed to go harder or farther. That other thing is the camaraderie I get from jaunting at a fun run. The first two are fun, but the fun run is the pinnacle in my opinion. Even though I could not do them all the time, they bring out the best part of the running community.

No matter what the run, friends make it better. No matter the run, if I have been doing solo runs for a while I know a group run will raise my spirits.