Conquering the Dish

"Veni, vidi, vici."

Caesar, I think I know just where you were coming from.

I've been dreaming about writing this entry for weeks now and the time is here. Four months ago, I started running. Found a program called The Couch-to-5K Running Plan and stuck with it. What I didn't realize was how quickly I'd get sucked in. The first couple of months, I ran on my own, trying to get from struggling to run half a mile to running 25 mins straight. Then, I thought, I'm ready to run with others. Now, I run twice a week with friends from work, who are all much better runners than I am, and once on the weekend on my own. I've even inspired M to start running again (yay!) and we're looking forward to the day we can run together on the weekends.

Once a week, we run The Dish (yes, it has to be capitalized). That run has been a looming challenge in front of me for the longest time. It's a 3.3 mile loop with lots of hills. To quote the Stanford Running Club: "Although both directions around the loop are steep, the loop done counter-clockwise is usually the way most people go because it takes about two miles to reach the top instead of a laborious one mile." I used to get almost sick to my stomach before heading over there.

Week 1: You can't be serious. You want me to run up THAT?

Week 2: Direction: counterclockwise. I think I can make it to the top of this hill without stopping. Who am I kidding? I can't. Several walking breaks.

Week 3: Direction: counterclockwise. Made it to the top without stopping. Think I'm going to die now. Walk. Run again, walk some more. Run some more.

Week 4: To keep things interesting, let's run clockwise. Bad idea. The hill of death lies that way. Don't they have ascenders to help you up things like this?

Week 5: Oh, back to the glorious counterclockwise direction. Made it to the top of the hill without stopping and a little bit more. One walking break.

Week 6: That was today. Counterclockwise on a gorgeous, sunny and slightly windy day. NO BREAKS. Yowza! I am woman, hear me roar! After I catch my breath, that is.

Bay to Breakers, here I come. I've got just under two more months to get ready for you.