I drove in fairly early and started running about 8:15 a.m. I went out early because JJ Fergeson was scheduled to haul some beams that weighed 176,000 pounds up Valley Hill at 7:00 a.m. Gerald Johnson had given me the headsup on that. Thanks, Gerald. Those diesels were working pulling that hill, about ten miles per hour at the top.
The Big Black is a lot closer than Little Mountain, but there are no bathrooms and no water fountains like you find at the State Park. It was still chilly when I ran a mile in the bottom to warm up before I started my first climb. I didn't time the climb, but just did my typical shuffle. That was hard enough.
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| The picture doesn't capture the vastness of the elevation drop from here to the bottom |
When I came down, I went to the truck, took an Endurolyte, and swapped out a water bottle. Not only that, but I left my long sleeve shirt at the truck because both the weather and I were warming up.
My second summit introduced me to uphill running on tired legs. Also, when I got near the top, I found a snake in the road, a chicken snake as we always called them. I attempted to pick him up but he was not in a sociable mood.
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| The unsociable snake, probably trying to stay warm. |
After my second descent, I stopped at the truck again, drank some, and took an energy gel. Then I went back for another run up. This time, in order to get more distance, I went down the other side of the hill and had to climb back up before the long downhill to the truck. All in all, I shuffle for 13.03 miles and made three major climbs. My legs told me that was enough.
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| A neat side road I found. Will I come back sometime and explore this? What do you think? |
So how does this hill compare to Little Mountain or the one on Humphrey's Highway? The one on Humphry Highwas is the toughest. It measures .75 miles of steep uphill and always makes me think I might actually die. Little Mountain ranks second with .8 miles of climbing but not quite as steep as Humphrey Highway. The Big Black hill comes in third in terms of difficulty but it measures an incredible 1.25 straight miles of climbing but at not nearly the grade of the other two.
And actually, there is a hill that beats all of these that I ran a couple of years ago. Penny and I went to Woodall Mountain once and it measures just shy of a mile climb, but the steepness is enough to make you hurt really bad. Really bad. The summit of Woodall Mountain is the highest elevation in Mississippi at 806 feet, and Little Mountain is the second highest elevation in our short state at just over 600 feet.
There is another hill that I sometimes run, and I think I will try it out again soon. On Humphrey's Highway, past the climb out of the delta is a hill a little over .5 long and not too steep. The advantage of this one is that you can push the pace on it and if you do, it will work you really hard.
I know what you are thinking. What about Valley Hill that the trucks hauled those beams up? I used to run it many years ago on my way to Carrollton before the state 4-laned the highway. Now you would be on the wrong side, going with the traffic instead of against it. What about the other side? I ran it many years ago. As they make highways now, it is not as steep as the old highway but longer, measuring just over a mile. I'm not too crazy about it because the traffic is heavy which annoys me greatly. Once running it, I had my cap literally blown off my head by an eighteen wheeler. But, it is close to home and with the weather cooling, I would not have to get up early to do it. Come to think of it, I will put it back on my list.
So why the hill running all of the sudden? A couple of reasons. One is I just want to have some fun. Fun? Well, an experience, something different. Another reason concerns performance. As a delta man, running hills is not my strong suit. Hill running makes to muscles work very hard and runs the heart rate up way high. In short, it is good for fitness, not bad for fun, and certainly different than running the delta. Thank you, Jesus.
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