by Ann Alexion – What goes up, must come down X 2

I forgot how much we enjoyed the Cranmore Hill Climb. We didn’t run it last year, but ran it in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Each year the course has changed. 2008 was really interesting as it had an extra fun factor of thunder and lightning at the start. I remember thinking, just the place to be, at the top of a mountain. The 2011Cranmore Hill Climb consisted of three 3.87 km laps up and down the mountain for men, two 3.87 km laps for the women and junior men (19 and under) and one 3.8km lap for junior women (19 and under). The course is primarily grass ski slope and double-wide track with some small sections of single track. There was alot of serious running going on as the top six U.S. men and top four women all earned spots on the2011 U.S. Mountain Running Team.

The day was a perfect day for a mountain run, perfect temperature and overcast during the race. The men started 5 minutes before the women. After a small sprint to the base of the mountain the climb begins and continues to the top and then the real fun begins on the down. I loved it and literally felt as though I was flying. Then comes the fun to do it all over again. For me it was one of the races of totally being in the moment. There isn’t much time for thinking when you are trying your hardest to go up, so you can come down to start again. Although still back of the pack, I was able to set my sites on a couple of people to get past and I did. I also found it pretty fun to try to keep pace with different runners on the ups. I just felt really good and quite happy throughout the whole run. Suprisingly there wasn’t much mud, but when there was I chose to run through. I finished and shortly after, George came in looking very strong. He thought he had a slow race, but because the course is so different every year, it’s hard to compare it to anything. I think he did great! As for myself, no matter what I placed I felt strong throughout and couldn’t have asked for anything better. The race is a great race to challenge yourself and I’m so happy George thought to do it again this year. Next up is the Loon Mtn race which we have done once and talked about for days after. I can’t imagine the experience will be as amazing as the first time around because we know what to expect, but I’m sure that one incredible steep up will still make me laugh and say, ”are you kidding me, we’re going up there?”

We stopped at the little farm store on the way home and got strawberries and biscuits for our after race treat!

Keep dreaming!

Annie