I decided to test my fitness today to see how fast I could run up Flattop mountain. The last time I timed myself was well over a year ago and I did it in 45 minutes. The trail is only a mile and half, but gains about 1250 feet of elevation. Still 45 minutes seemed slow.
I ran the flat parts and some of the stairs and hiked the steep uphills as fast as I could. I was basically redlining the entire way. My lungs were burning and I got that bloody taste in my mouth that I used to get when I was younger and I would run. I'm pretty sure my lungs were bleeding. Yup.
When I got to the short scramble at the top I had to stop for a few seconds to catch my breath. I had pushed so hard to this point that my legs and arms felt wobbly for the last steep scramble. I got to the top in 35 minutes. Not bad. I wonder how fast I could go? I bet some people could do it in 15 minutes.
I'm always amazed at the random people you see on Flattop. These people are nowhere else in Chugach State Park except on Flattop Mountain. As I was running down one guy who was wearing a sideways flat brimmed hat and a cotton jogging suit said to me, "Did you make it all the way to the top?" "Yep." And then he said, "Is that real sweat on you?" "Uh... yeah???" Then he yelled to his friend, "This girls got real sweat on her!" Another woman wearing jeans and flip flops saw me running down and said, "You're so brave!" I wasn't sure how to respond to that so I yelled back "Thanks!" and laughed the rest of the way down.
2 comments:
Take it easy on those lungs! You started this Soggy Bottom thing, so Huber and I will drag you there even if your lungs ARE bleeding!
Juneau's version of Flattop is Mount Roberts. A tram totes tourists to 1,800 feet, and sometimes they wander up the mountain from there. Today, a woman wearing Crocs and a pink sweatshirt (not hoodie ... sweatshirt), stopped me about a quarter mile from the tram and asked me how far to the top of Mount Roberts. I took a quick glance at my GPS and told her it was at least 2,000 vertical feet and three miles from where we were standing. "Oh" she said, "so about 45 minutes?"
Sure, lady. Have fun with that. Actually, I told her she should probably stick closer to the tram if she had a cruise ship to catch.
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