Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Last Two Hours

Hangover Memory Edition

Today, I ran my last 2 hour run of the year (cross country year that is). The majority of my 2 hour runs have been out at Hangover, which is the best place to do it. But, when I was out there, I started to think about how many amazing runs I have had at Hangover. So, I thought I would go back into my log and my memory and write about some experiences I have had out there. These will not even include the time trials and races at Hangover, just long runs.

- I can still remember my first run at Hangover. It was in the summer before my Freshman year here at SSU. It was on August 8th, and it was with Paul Webb, Chris Roush, Blake Jones, Erock, and Chuck Wentz. We did the loop backwards, which is 11.25 miles and boy was this an experience. Chuck had a hard time. Once we got to the gravel road after the 2 mile hill, we waited 15 minutes for Chuck to catch up. So, we started again and BJ, Paul, Roush, and myself ran together. Erock stayed back with Chuck because he was having a hard time. We all finished together but Chuck came in 45 minutes later! I thought he might not of ran for us after that but he did and is doing well now. All my log said was, "WOW! what a course!!!!!" And on that day, I fell in love with Hangover...

- I didn't do any memorable long runs at Hangover until my sophomore year, when we decided to make a team goal to run a Hangover long runs on Sundays. Most of the team did not do these, but Keegan, BJ, Reece, and a few others had some great runs out there that season. Most of these long runs were in the dark and even though the footing was not good, the runs were awesome because night runs make it feel like you are floating. In late September, I wrote in my log about how Keegan fell. I remember this pretty clearly. Reece was down at the cars and Keegan, Shane, and I were finishing up a run down the hill. We were all making monkey calls to Reece. That was something we did last year. It was awesome. And as Keegan was making a call, he bit it and fell face first. Shane fell over him. After he got up and was alright it was a good laugh.

- Another thing I remember was when Corey scared Keegan and me. It was really dark this time and Keegan and I were finishing up a long run, and right near the end, Corey jumped out of the weeds and scared the crap out of us. Embarrassingly I grabbed Keegan like a little kid! haha. I was not expecting that though. Just like Corey to do that.

- Another nice run at Hangover was last winter with Reece. I can't remember when this was but I think it was after we all got back from Christmas break. Reece and I ran into each other at the school and decided to drive out to Hangover and run. This was one of the first snowy days we had. It started snowing as we were driving and by the time we finished our run, the roads were covered! It was awesome, snowy runs at Hangover are amazing.

- This fall, I have ran 11 runs at Hangover on Sundays. 8 of those have been 15 miles or more and 5 have been 2 hours plus. I have started taking PowerGels during the linger ones and that is kind of cool. Before cross, Mike Cauley and Mike Sawicki joined some of us out there on two separate occasions. It is neat to show other people our training grounds and for them to brag about how hard it is. I take pride it it!

So, Hangover is a key part of our training, and even more in my own training. I like to think that I have ran at Hangover more than anyone else, but I am not sure that I have. I probably have logged the most miles out there for sure! Hangover is different with the seasons and I have saw a lot of cool things out there.

I look forward to more memories to come at Hangover. More runs will be ran this year there, just no more 2 hour runs. This winter, I am running a 30k in NC and I plan on getting some nice long runs in at Hangover. There is nothing like it!

Running Free

(you'll have to understand these memories might not sound to interesting, but to me and the people that have experienced them first hand, they are truly awesome.)

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