The Hills

So I've been wanting to do a hills run for a while now.  The largest hill here in Hanford is the 12th Avenue bridge over 198.  A DailyMile friend Rob told me about this Meyer-Rocky Loop in Exeter. So, I went over there last week while on a trip to Visalia and drove the loop.  Only in reverse, so now for me its the Rocky-Meyer Loop.  I made all my plans to run the route this week.  I got the water belt, made plans for a friend to come along, the works.  Well at the last minute my friends couldn't go and my wife had to work.  Thank God for Grandma's cause that's where the baby went. I had planned to leave around 6 am but my daughter was asleep and after staying up later to write my last post I decided I could use a little extra myself.  I ended up leaving around 730 to drop my daughter off.  I made it to Exeter around 830 and got out there.

I made my Start/Finish at the corner of Rocky Hill Drive and Hwy 65.  This first photo shows the road about 3/4 of a mile in.  I hit the one mile mark crossing Spruce and almost immediately started the climb up the first hill.  This was a climb of around 400 feet over the course of a mile.  My legs were burning the whole way up.  I was actually ready to stop at the top of this hill and walk back down.  But, I was on a mission.



I stopped for a picture and a drink near the top.  This is looking back the way I came.  It's a hazy day in the valley today.  It was already starting to heat up at this point as well.

This is the view from the back side of the hill going down into Yokohl Valley.  It was way easier to run down than to run up.  I saw quite a few runners and cyclist on this stretch of rode.  It was nice to know I wasn't the only one out here.  I had a Raspberry Hammer Gel on the way down. It was pretty yummy.




A look back from Yokohl Valley Road and Road 228.  This was a pretty easy flat portion.  It stayed that way until about mile 6 when I started my climb up the Meyer Dr Hill.

This is a look down the hill I ran up.  This one was way easier that the first hill.  Only about 200 feet of climb.  I had another Gel this time it was Montana Huckleberry and it was the best thing I've ever had.  Really I want to put it on toast.  Was ready to step it up down the back side of this and get back down to Exeter.

One more mile to go.  I was so tired at this point.  I think by this time I'd ran further than I had ever ran before and I still had a ways to go yet.

Sorry for this one.  The camera on an iPhone 3g isn't that great when you're moving.  You can see the finish line at the light head  If you can even see the light.  I stepped it up at this point and tried to finish strong.

Total Distance was 11.52 miles with 724 feet of climb in 1:52:45.  A very good run for me.  I really enjoyed the challenge of my first hills run and hope to do it again sometime soon.  If you'd like to see the elevation charts and geotagged photo's go to my RunKeeper profile by clicking here.