I haven't been getting out as much to run these past few weeks - between work travel, holiday commitments and just overall busyness - it's just been hard to get out. Combine that with all of the holiday treats and me neglecting to eat lunch before the run, it made for quite a grind. I met Jun at the Capitol and we ran up the Steeplchase course to Black Mountain. We ran together on the road and then Craig began to pull away as we hit the uphill trails. I was also trying to be very aware of my form and how it was affecting my knee, which made me go a lot slower. About a mile up the trail I had to stop and shed a layer - it was much hotter than I had anticipated! Craig was waiting a little further up and we continued on. He pulled away again and then I noticed that my left foot was starting to go numb. I've had that happen occasionally, but it usually just goes away. Today though, it just got worse and worse, until I felt like I was clomping down a 2x4 with every step. At the top of a hill I stopped and loosened my laces, as that is often the culprit. Felt better for a little while and then it came back. Craig was waiting for me at the top of the hill at about mile 4, where I took my shoe off and stretched my foot, and then put it back on really loose. That seemed to help a lot and I only felt a little numbness every now and then as we went up (not at all going down). I still was going really slow and just didn't feel like I had 'it' today. I knew Craig wanted to hit Black Mountain, and I could think of many valid excuses why I could just say I was going to turn around and cut it short. That's not how I roll though...Ha. My saying is that I may not be fast, but I will just keep going. It actually felt good when we got to the really steep climb up the ridgeline, I had been looking forward to a little hiking. It's a great workout and I figure it's got to help the knee get stronger. Right near the top (though I didn't know it was the top yet) my legs started feeling a little like jello and I was really starting to feel my energy deficiency. I was pleasantly surprised when I came to Craig sitting on a rock under a tree reading the summit log - we were at the top! Sweet. We chatted there for a minute and then headed back down. The way down was super sketchy, as the snow was packed down and it was steep! Neither of us ate it, which was good, I came close, but only because I tripped over my own leg as I brought it forward! It would not have been a good place to go face first! Craig really hit the downhills hard, and I was being extra careful not to punish my knee too hard (seems to do fine on everything except the really steep stuff, up or down). When I got to the bottom of the first big decent, my quads were pretty hammered, and I was quickly running out of energy - and we still had 5 or so miles of quad crushing downhill left! Ended up getting slower and slower and just couldn't push anything much faster than a 9 min mile. Craig ended up waiting for me for like 12 minutes at the bottom! I thought for sure he was getting ready to come looking for me. We very casually ran the road section for a cooldown. I was feeling completely wrecked. I grabbed a JBC and a 32 oz Coke from Wendys, and almost immediately felt better. Nice... 14 miles - 3:09:00 - 13:30 pace - 3750 vert | 