Mutiny On The Mountain

There was a mutiny on the mountain on Thursday.

I'll set the scene here. Coach Chris has a favourite loop that he has us do often on Mt Coot tha. It's a 1.6k loop through the centre of the mountain and coming down/going up the front, depending on whether we run it clockwise or anti-clockwise. When you run it anti-clockwise it's a little bit easier because the uphill section has a flat bit in the middle so you can catch your breath. No such luck on the clockwise loop - it's uphill all the way to the turning point.

On Thursday I was a little antsy about doing hills. I haven't run them for a couple of weeks due to Gold Coast (taper and recovery) and hills is always a pretty intense session. When we'd all gathered at the car park C. Chris told us what the session was going to be so we headed off the 1k to the starting point. He pretended to be thoughtful over which way to send us and asked me which was the easy direction. Of course I fell hook, line and sinker into his trap and as soon as I pointed to the direction he told us we'd be running the other way.

So off we trotted. (Some of us faster than others) I took it very cautiously for the first lap and got passed - a lot! Then it was down the inside of the mountain and back to the starting point where C Chris was waiting. Some people had to continue in the same direction and some got to turn around. I didn't even slow down when I got close - he was in one of those moods and I knew I was going clockwise again. So I shuffled up that long climb again and enjoyed the reprieve on the downhill and when I got to C Chris again guess which direction I got to run in? No surprises here. Of course I had to do clockwise.

The sun was just starting to rise on this third loop and when I peeked over my shoulder up the hill I could see a few pink streaks starting to colour the sky and that's when I decided. Even if he sent me clockwise again, I was NOT going to do it. Sure enough, when I finished the lap he pointed clockwise and that's when I turned around leaving him open-mouthed and flabbergasted. No one ever disobeys commands! And that loop was the sweetest of them all - I ran it with a little more bounce in my step (although I think most of that was a figment of my imagination because there's not much bounce left after running 3 other loops) and the view? Spectacular! And the threat of special treatment in the next week was absolutely worth it.

Friday he rang just to "have a chat" (chastise and rebuke me for sedition). I happened to mention my sore muscles and he kindly told me that if I'd run the last loop the way he'd wanted me to, I wouldn't have been sore. Yep, sure I believe that Chris!

He's off this weekend running in a team at the Kokoda Challenge. It's a 96k trek through the Gold Coast hinterland - a very challenging, mountainous trail race. I'm hoping it leaves him so tired he'll forget my little indiscretion. Or maybe I should just bake some cookies as a peace offering ...