Hard Climb Hill

Paul Potorti and I compete for the "most ridiculously dressed" honor.
But just like in races, Paul always wins.

"I love Skittles!"

Last Sunday, Shannon and I ran last race of the Godiva winter series, "Hard Climb Hill". Shannon took lots of pictures which are here.

The race is held on the paths in Duke Forest, and is named for one of the hills there. It would be more aptly named "Hard Climb Hills", because there are a lot of them.

You can choose between distances of 3, 7, or 10 miles, composed of 3 out-and-back sections. All Godiva races have a unique twist, and this one is that you can decided how far you want to run while your racing.

I really should not have been running at all, since my calf had just come home the day before, but I needed to run the race to get a point in the winter series and thereby earn my t-shirt, and I was sick of resting all week.

My evil arch nemesis, Paul Potorti, was there, but I was in no condition to even try to keep up with him.
When the race started, Paul, Ronnie, and Ken all took off in the lead. I felt surprisingly good and actually managed to keep up with them for about a mile, but the rolling hills forced me to back off some. Still, I was quite happy with my recovery from the marathon, that is until about mile 5.

Harold Hill completes a triple lutz
while wearing a kilt, earning
a perfect 10 from the Scottish judges

That's when my recently returned calf muscle started rumbling inside my calf sleeve, threatening to pop off again. So I decided to stop at 7 miles, but by that time the damage was already done.
Ken won the 10 mile race, followed by Paul who promptly dropped and did 100 push-ups at the finish line. Unfortunately, these were not real push-ups, but the kind usually practiced by Girl Scouts.

I had to show Paul the proper way to do a push-up, which is to keep your back straight, and go all the way down and touch your nose to the ground. Quality over quantity.
And for the record, here is how my push-ups score:

Quality= Perfect
Quantity=3

OK, so I am a weakling, and won't ever win any push-up contests.

Showing P.P. how to do a push-up

Yes the hills are that steep.
Climbing ropes were required.
(just kidding. this is a good example of an
over-exaggerated profile)

Hard climbin' hill