It’s mid-January which means the Pacific NW Dungeness Crab season is well underway, and equally wet & crabby runners are hitting the roads and trails as the 2006 running season gets going. We’re planning to transport the entire family to Kansas City in June for the Hospital Hill Run where the Hall clan will be running in force. To assess how much work I have ahead of me in order to get competitive again, I ran my first 10K in about 8 years last Sunday (1/8/06) through some really pretty farm country near Forest Grove, OR. Judging by the time I turned in, I’m going to be very busy running in the rain. Becky gave me some new waterproof gear for Christmas but it’s still tough to get out of a warm bed at 4am to go slosh up & down hills in the dark.

I was in KC for work this past week and took advantage of a cold but sunny Saturday morning to run the 12K course. What I encountered was nothing short of alarming and I’ve got some bad news for my friends and family in the mid-west.

It’s been about 14 years since I last ran Hospital Hill and during Saturday’s run, I discovered that the hills had gotten larger. The only explanation I have for the huffing/puffing is that tectonic uplift under Kansas City has increased the size of the hills on the run (it certainly couldn’t be me). At its current rate, left unresolved, the Hospital Hill Run will soon require sherpas, supplemental oxygen and staging camps and result in even crabbier runners.

This is a terrible problem and I’m sure KC’s civil engineers are trying to find a solution. Until one can be found, the only known work-around will be increased training/competition. Next race is March 4 at Champoeg Park Guess what I’m doing at 4am tomorrow morning.