Long Hills.

SUNDAY 27/2/05, 6AM- 25K

On a foggy, drizzly lower mountains morning I met Sarge, Yurtie and Poider for some hilly running on the Grose Head South and Shaws Ridge trails.

We set off into the gloom for a 25 minute warmup through the bush to the foot of Bees Nest Hill. This climbs about 130m in 1.2K. We did 5 repeats of this hill, alternating running it all and walking. As we climbed each time, we could look around and see nearby treetops obscured by mist. On the last rep we ran out to Grose HEad South lookout, which normally gives a splended view of the Grose River Gorge looking across towards Kurrajong, but today there was nothing but a grey wall of fog that it seemed you could reach out and touch, whilst still being able to hear the roar of the river.

Didn't feel too sharp- on the running reps Sarge managed to pull away from me each time.

We finished the run by returning to the trailhead via Shaws Ridge, which has one final climb of about 100m in about 1.5K. Managed to hang onto Sarge most of the way.

I love running trails in these conditions. Fantastic, if only I'd felt a little sharper.