Brutal Wilke

After the ski trip, I was ready to get back to a regular schedule and training. And of course, it doesn't help that the Austin Half is coming up on Sunday. Especially since I haven't been doing any regular running since the 3M race! Man, did that sneak up on me! So I was ready to go run with T3, and when they posted that it was going to be a workout at Wilke, which is an infamous killer hill just south of Zilker park, I was looking forward to see what all the fuss was about.

Well, there is a fuss for a reason. It's about 400 yards at about 10% incline. That's steep! It is paved and it is straight, but those are about the only good qualities. And first we had to run the 1.5 miles from the meeting spot at Barton Springs to get to Wilke because it's a small neighborhood with no place to park. And then we started doing repeats- everyone was doing 6 except for IMCdA doing 10. And I did the first one in about 6:15, and so was put on a 8 minute interval. They were awful. After the first one I just walked up the steepest part and stutter stepped the rest of the incline. And the downhill was almost worse because you were balancing way back on your heels and your quads were just burning! It was not running, but surviving, and doing that just barely. And I was huffing and panting and in all kinds of pain.

So after the first one, I thought "I can't do six- I'll do four and call it quits- everyone is going faster than me and maybe I can cheat." And then I did the second, and then the third. And then maybe I'll just do all six. Maybe. As a test of will. So then four, and then five, and then I finished the last. I didn't make my interval on the last two, but I did it! But we weren't done. Coach L had us jog uphill backwards halfway and sprint down- just once for everyone finishing at this point, but the earlier finishers did two. And then a 100% effort sprint halfway once. And then we were done. Oh, except for the having to run the 1.5 miles back to the car.

Luckily the IMers were doing 10 and so the last of them were finishing just as I was- my plan of running until I'm the next to last to finish is working pretty well. So I was slowly jogging back to the car, these two red pit bull puppies- females about 5 months old, are running in the middle of Robert E Lee street, trying to get hit by cars. One woman in a Jeep stopped and we corralled them- super sweet puppies with collars and no tags. I ask her if she can take them to Town Lake- they have overnight intake with locking cages- and she says okay, so we load them up in her car and off she goes. And man they stink- of yeast and lake water. So I now smell even worse than just sweaty. But at least the pups didn't get run over and maybe the owner will reclaim them. If not, there are two cute puppies at TLAC that need to be adopted...