TheBanyanTree: vineyard race

[Julie Anna Teague]

I ran a 5 mile race at the local Creekbend Vineyard on Saturday. It was 
very hot and there was one stinking hill after another. The three 
biggest hills were labeled: The Hill of Discomfort, The Hill of 
Despair, and The Hill of Death. In between were lots of other hills 
that were not labeled with encouraging names so I didn't know whether 
to expect discomfort, despair, death, or something heretofore 
unimagined. On one hill we breathed a lot of dust. It could've aptly 
been labeled The Hill of Choking Dust.  They could've drawn a little 
brown lung.

Shortly after the Hill of Despair, many of us were stung by an 
underground nest of yellow jackets which had been quite riled up by the 
runners who were ahead of us. I got stung on the ankle as did several 
other people. It hurt. After the Valley of Stings came the Hill of 
Death, and I would say that getting up that hill hurt even more than 
the sting, which was throbbing a bit.  The signage even related how 
long the hill was and the degree of incline--160 feet of 23 degree 
slope.  If you drew a 23 degree angle, you would think, eh, this is not 
straight up.  If you have run a 23 degree slope, you would know that, 
given the way the human leg moves, and the fact that you are attempting 
to go forward at a fast clip, this does indeed work out to be straight 
up, despite the actual geometry.

Needless to say, this was one of the more challenging five miles I've 
ever run. It was for a good cause, and there was supposed to be free 
wine and food afterwards.  Turns out there was only free water and 
oranges and we had to buy the wine and food.  But there was a band.  
They said there would be and there was.  I'd talked my niece into 
running the one mile kids' run.  It was her first race and she did very 
well, coming in 7th out of 50 or so kids.  Well done Maddie!  It was 
really hot and the last half mile of the kids' run was a steep uphill, 
too. I ran the last half mile with her, encouraging her to keep going 
up the hill as she was starting to flag a bit.  She took off running 
again and ended up doing really well.  After she recovered for a couple 
of minutes she said, "Now that I'm not running, I think I feel like 
running some more!"  Like I've always contended, running feels so good 
after you stop. :)   It was fun to share my love of running with my 
niecekins.

After I washed my face and caught my breath I was fine. Despite the 
heat and hills, it was only five miles, which is a usual kind of 
distance for me. And after all was said and done, the race was in quite 
a beautiful place--vineyards and pine forests. Husband and son and I 
walked through the vineyards and ate a lot of burgeoningly ripe wine 
grapes which were delicious. We sat on a blanket and had homemade 
cookies and fresh bread and pesto, fruit and veggies from the farmer's 
market and wine, and listened to the band. The sun started setting, red 
and orange, and as we drove out, the vineyards and surrounding 
hillsides were just stunningly beautiful. We could've been in Italy.  
It was a good evening to be alive.

Julie