7 Hills Road

Today I finally did it. Ever since last April I had been wanting to run the entire 7 Hills Road, and I finally got that checked off the list this morning. This road is unbelievable! It's an old township road that runs a total of 8 miles. I tried to run the entire thing, out and back, last April but gave up after only 12 miles. Today, though...success! I was mostly interested in Garmin Connect's Elevation/Heart Rate Profile...pretty cool turnout, and actually somewhat symmetrical (it was an out/back course, with the HR increaseing along with elevation--something Connect Stuggles MIGHTILY with on the trails. Another reason to NOT buy a Garmin).

I reached the halfway point (the northern-most end) in a little over an hour and gladly helped myself to the water bottle I had stashed on that end. At that point I was hoping to run a negative split back to the car. The first half of the trip was done mainly in fog.



This part of Wisconsin has been littered with enormous windmills...I didn't even realize one was about 100 yards away and was wondering what that "whoosh" was. I tried to photo it...without much luck.



After turning around I wanted to finish in under 2 hours. While I didn't bonk as hard as last time I ran this road, I didn't make it in under 2 hours, either, thanks to a 10 minute mile 15 and a 9 minute mile 16 to finish. It got warm towards the end too, burning off the fog and exposing the edited opinion of wind energy incredibly big windmills.





At one point I decided to sprint (relative term, at that point in the run) up one of the hills to see how hight the HR would get. Garmin Sez 185. I think I've got more than that in me, so I'll be back out to this road again soon, hoping to break 2 hours. Before that, I need to review some hill running tips.