Will we ever go back down?

Today's run was a knockout. It was a medium long run, weighing in at 16+km, and we ran it as a group.

Little did I know how hard it would be.

We started at the bottom of Nofei Aviv leaving on the trail out and we were running to Beit Natif. That is the mountains just beyond RBS A.

The way out was a long and gradual uphill. I kept thinking eventually we were going to get to the top and level out, but that did not happen. We just kept going up and up and higher up. There was no end. Somehow though I kept up decently and even had good speed, despite the constant uphill.

It turns out, we kept going uphill to the top of the mountains for a total of a bit over 8.5km! Straight! With some of those uphills not just being long and gradual, but also some parts that were extremely steep!

Somehow I made it all the way, with the expectation that on the second hald we would be gliding down in a relaxed pace on an equivalent downhill.

Boy, was I in for a surprise. The downhill was sudden and complete. We went the whole downhill in like 800meters, which leaves no ability for a relaxing run and catching breath. Such a sharp downhill is a lot of work.

Anyways, we completed the downhill and then it mostly flattened out with some ups and downs, but mostly flat. We ran on the trails back to Aviv, and on the way passed right by my house.

That is tough - being so tired and running right by the house is very tempting to just stop there and go home. But I kept going and finished the run back to Aviv.

Another hard part, I think the hardest part of the whole run, was the last 1.5km. You know you are on the last leg of the run and my legs just turned to jelly at that point. Knowing it was just about over really killed me.

By the end I looked at my average pace and could not believe I had run, with all that uphill, at such a good pace. My numbers were 16.31 km at an average pace of 5:38/km. Again I hit 10km at 57 minutes.