Hill Week 2014: South Mountain (Emmaus)

Today was the 2nd of 7 days of Hill Week.  This run was at South Mountain in Emmaus.  It's about a half hour drive, so I've only run there about 5 times or so before.  I had not been there since the fall.

It was very hot and humid, so I wore a sleeveless shirt.  It got soaked by the end.  I was just glad that we were in amongst the trees.  That made it cooler at least.

I arrived pretty early and Lisa (who I had never met) did too.  Wayne and his wife came along and one of their friends, Jess.  It was good to see a lot of new faces.  Chris was there again after yesterday and Krissa, who I have a lot of mutual friends with, was there as well.

We started off with the flat section.  I figured that that would be a good warmup.  Since none of the fast local guys showed up, I was leading this run.  Jess came up and ran with me.  I told her I'd slow down if she needed.  I wasn't looking to run fast, just whatever the fastest people wanted to run.

As we got close to the main loop and the climbing portion, Jess began to drop back.  I was surprised by that.  I figured that she might struggle with the climb, but I didn't think I was going too fast for her on the climb.  I felt bad because if I knew she needed to go slower, I would've slowed down.

Krissa and Lisa eventually passed her as we began to climb the orange loop.  I tried to keep it nice and easy, but I still found myself pulling away at times.  I slowed down some more.  I wasn't going to leave them, especially because they didn't know where they were going.

This climb used to be quite hard for me, but now it was easy.  I guess that shows how much stronger I have become over the past year or two.  I made sure to take it slow enough to not lose them.

Krissa kept up fairly well and I guess Lisa eventually fell back.  There is a cool boulder formation near the top of the climb.  I stopped there and took pictures as Krissa came through.  The two of us then continued on.

It wasn't too much longer and we came to a blue and white trail.  I was looking for a red one.  I was confused.  We kept going and ended up right below where we just were.  I decided that we should just take the blue and white trail.

Krissa was worried, since we were lost.  Me, on the other hand, I enjoy getting lost.  I knew where the orange loop was and how to get back, if needed.  I just didn't know where we were headed.

We climbed and climbed some more.  This was becoming a good workout.  I had never gone up this section.  I told Karissa that we would just run to 2.5 miles and then turn and head back downhill.

Right before that point, we came out to a powerline clearing.  I wasn't exactly sure where it was, so I decided that we should simply backtrack.  It was better than getting too far out.

Now, we had a fun run down the hill.  It's a little rocky, but not too bad.  It wasn't long until we were back on the orange loop.  I was wondering if we would ever find the red trail.  We finished up this loop.

We were concerned of where the others were.  I asked Karissa if she wanted to do the orange loop again.  She said as long as it wasn't too far.  We had heard some yelling earlier and wondered if someone might be lost.

We went back on the loop and climbed again.  Even this didn't bother me too much.  I was soaked, but that was about it.  Karissa had to walk briefly, but otherwise she did great with keeping up on the climbs.

As we got near the boulders, we saw Wayne, his wife and Jess walking by.  At least a lot of the rest of the group was together.  We still didn't see Chris or Lisa, but we hoped that they were together.

We continued on the orange loop.  Just before the bottom we came to Chris and Lisa.  They got a little lost too.  It seemed that everyone did.  I was glad that everyone was accounted for at this point.  We almost all came to the end of the orange loop at the same time.

We ran back on the flat part.  I chatted briefly with Lisa and then decided to take off.  I thought I could get a fast half mile in anyway and since everyone knew their way back, that would be fine.  I took their photo as they came through the finish area.

I love getting lost on short trails like this and then finding my way.  That's a big part of the fun.  I know some of the others were worried, but not me.  If I had more time, I would've marked these routes beforehand.  I did post maps for anyone that was really concerned with getting lost.

Tomorrow, the run is at Salisbury/Walking Purchase Park.  I don't know that one too well either.  Much like today's run, it is hard to truly get lost there.  That route is very rocky.  I'm hoping for a decent turnout.

5.6 miles - 1:03:21 (11:19 pace)