Doing Effie Twice. At My Age.

Effie on an earlier winter run                       photo by Dan DeRosha

Yes, people my age are usually happy to be able to Effie once, for Pete's sake. But there I was, trudging up the old hag for the second time. And folks are passing me like I was standing still. But I didn't mind. You see, it had been a real long time since I'd done the hilly Hinckley nine-mile loop twice, and after a rough month, I was happy just to be able to make the distance. Effie, by the way, is the name of the big hill on Ledge Road, about half-way through the loop.

These Sunday morning runs at Hinckley are being reinstituted, mostly by me. And we had a great turnout of MCRR runners. I ran the first loop with Renee Harden and Rick Roman. Even for that first time up Effie, they had to wait for me at the top. But I didn't mind; overall, it was a relatively fast one considering the inch or so of snow on the roads. Not so for my second loop - that one was, I think, a PW.

But as I said, I didn't mind.


PostScript: I should add that in my younger days I was able to do Effie three times. Maybe I'll get back to that level one of these decades. On the other hand, I've heard warnings that if you're doing Effie for more than four hours, you should seek immediate medical attention.