Kicking My Butt

Yesterday, I ran with Coach Steve. I picked Steve up just after 6:30 am. The night before, Steve said he had a surprise. Steve directed me where to go, which turned out to be a parking lot just outside Chatfield State Park. The surprise was a flat stretch of trail, which is highly unusual to find in the area. The trail was built on top of Chatfield dam. Thank you, Corps of Engineers.

As we ran, Steve wanted me to work on form. Specifically, he want me to kick my butt with the heels of my shoe. At first, it was fun. After a few minutes, it became tiring as I was using muscles that I typically do not use when I run. We ran towards a parking lot on top of the dam. During the run, Steve would occasionally stop and discuss form with me and why I need to work on lifting my lower leg to kick my butt. He also showed me the hill where he made the group do hill run repeats, undoubtedly foreshadowing a run workout in the future. He also spent some time discussing race strategy, including visualizing running past the finish line. To emphasize the point, he told me that we were running to the stop sign in the parking lot. However, halfway through the parking lot, we stopped and discussed how to approach doing bicycle hill repeats on a road that goes over the dam. We never did go to the stop sign.

The run was not all serious. At one point, Steve told me he would like to organize a one mile race on the trail so that he could call the event "The Dam Mile". He also volunteered to go to Mexico for me in January. He backed away from the offer when I told him that he would have to spend time with my girlfriend's mother.

On the way back to the car from the parking lot, the view was gorgeous. The lake was to the right, partially covered in ice, and the sun was coming up in front of us. It is incredible how fast the sun grows in size as it comes over the horizon. I wish that I had a camera to take a picture. It was also amazingly quiet except for the sound of my breathing and Steve occasionally talking to me - Steve was hardly breathing as the pace was easy for him.

As we retraced our steps, Steve pointed out my footprints in the snow. At first, I thought the footprints were his because of how far apart they were spaced. However, they were indeed my footprints. A little butt kicking (or at least trying to kick your butt) apparently increases the distance you travel with each stride. We ended the run by slowing down and really focusing on trying to kick our butts.

Today, I have some soreness in my leg muscles. However, it is the good type of soreness that comes from a butt kicking workout.