12.2 Palisades State Park Hills Run
It’s been a while since we ran together as a group on this scenic route along the Hudson valley. I think it was July when we were here last time? Up and down hills are certainly very challenging and they could be even brutal for both our body and soul. However, we can’t resist the calling of such a beauty, and the proud feeling of able to conquer this place.
So in the morning of December 2, we were here again. Very different outfits comparing to the tanks and shorts we had back in the summer time. Luckily, it was a mild sunny day and everyone was so cheerful when we got together in Ross Dock picnic area. There were some new and old faces, veteran and novice runners, everyone arrived with a smile and we couldn’t wait to run. We were also lucky to have our running club photographer SH joined us. This couldn’t be a better day.
After warming up and the group pictures are taken, off we go. It was a deep uphill in front of us right in the beginning, that certainly is a big challenge for the new runners but hopefully the beautiful view once we get up there will compensate the hard work and they won’t call it’s the end of it!
Still recovering from injury, I carefully ran on my own with my own pace. The air was crispy, the leaves were golden, the hills seem to be more manageable with slower pace. Whenever I saw our runners passed me, I saw smiles in their face, I think they enjoyed this bitter sweet feeling just like me.
I turned back around 3 miles mark and finished my 6.6 mile run with great satisfaction. Some people ran shorter and some ran more than double the distance than me. When I got back to the parking lot, bunch of us stretched together. We did some plank and yoga moves. Rebecca showed us how to do them correctly.
Then we decided since we have the photographer with us, why don’t we take some nice jump photos? It’s really hard to synchronize the jumps but after few tries, I think the right moment was captured. We were all flying at the same time!
After that, we all went back to our normal life routine with happy memory in our mind and looking forward to our next group run.
In the end, let’s conclude my run blog with the first time runner Damon’s note below. Damon is new comer to our club but certainly not a new runner. He ran 23km today! Good job Damon!
刚搬到NJ的新手报告：23km/2h46m Hudson dr。行前有点担心，这可能是队长要给新手下马威，因为我跑坡就挂掉(80公斤)。还好有群体的压力，还是开车一小时参加。看到各位团友，第一印象是这团全部都是专业的，从身材到装备都是。起跑时，大家都用喷的，马上看不到大家的车尾灯，而我却有想在第一个坡就想放弃，于是选择慢慢跑，跟自己对话，”就跑个15km吧”。这景色真是太美了，有助于维持，每个坡都想停下来，却也都撑过来。最后达到设定23km是本周的目标，比三天前平地23km多6分钟。跑完的感觉是上天堂，也再一次证明限制都是在自己的脑袋 (觉得自己不可能跑坡)，也再一次证明，只要能持续跑步，生命其它工作日常都不是难事。