Mount Lemmon Run #1

In preparation for the Mount Lemmon half I decided that a few training runs up the mountain would be in my best interest. So this morning I gathered up my road crew and we hit the road.

What did our wedding vows not include early morning ridiculousness...
 

Look at my awesome fluorescent shirt so I won't get run over on the mountain- safety first 

 I was a little more excited than D (probably something about me waking him up at 6am to chauffeur my butt up a mountain only to have to sit around for almost two hours as I puffed it up the mountain and then having to sit with my sweaty self while I complained about feeling car sick on the way down, in my defense I did take him out to breakfast after, choc chip banana pancakes for me, b-fast burrito for him).  Isn't marriage grand! Thank you hubby!

After D tossed me out of the car at Windy Point I huffed and puffed and walked ( a lot) 7.3 miles uphill (yes uphill the whole way). ELEVATION GAIN: 1,817ft. I went a lot slower (average pace a sad 14 min/mile) than I thought I would but I didn't feel like I was going to die at the end so I probably could have pushed a little harder. Plus there was mile 5.5 to 6.5 where I found that I could walk faster than I could walk up the steep road, bleh. There is some downhill in the course later on so I am sure I will be super excited to hit that part on race day. I was hoping to finish the race in under three hours but now I am not so sure. It is very uphill. But it is beautiful out there so being on the course a little longer than expected probably won't kill me. I will try to fit in a few more training runs in to deal with the altitude ( a factor I didn't expect and couldn't figure out why I was wheezing like I had a sudden onset of asthma or a black lung until a few miles in when I remembered I was on a MOUNTAIN, hello. )And any half marathon after this one can only get faster (baring some sort of catastrophe or a blow to the head that makes me sign up for another uphill race).