Pigeon Forge

July 22, 2010
Hill Climb with Keith
5.0 miles

This week the family is in Pigeon Forge for the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of Rick's parents. This means that Monday and Tuesday I walked all over Dollywood and back again ... numerous times. Yesterday was a free day and I hiked the A.T. with my brother-in-law Tony, my nephew Will, and my daughter Whiteny while various other members of the Hedgpeth clan played golf or played in the pool.

Unbeknownst to me, our long time friend Keith Timmins came in from Missouri to share in the celebration. Now Keith is worse than I am. He is seriously addicted to running and competing. So much so that he actually took swimming lessons so he could begin doing triathalons! Now that is dedication. When I began running in 2004-2005, Keith was very happpy - finally there was somebody in his extended "family" who actually "got" him.

We've run a couple of things together - my first Sawtooth Relay was due to his urging. We also ran the Marine Corps Marathon together and of late, the Colorado Relay. So, naturally, anytime our family visits him, or vice-versa, we run together and today was no exception.

Keith is older than I am yet so much stronger and faster than me; therefore, I am always worried about my ability to hang with him on a run. Keith is great though, he is one of the absolute, nicest people you could meet, despite being super competitive during a race.

We got out early in the morning, trying to beat the heat and humidity. I wanted to take advantage of the twisty, winding. two mile road up to the cabin where the clan was staying and Keith was all for it. We ran down the hill and then I told him I needed to practice my power hiking for Leadville. Not a problem, I'll just double back for you every now and then. Great!
I also wanted to make sure my legs had recovered from the weekend's race - no need to pull something this close to Leadville because I had to be super competitive myself!

After power hiking/running up the hill to the cabin, we both wanted to make it an even 5 miles, so we continued up the hill a bit and then came back down. On the way down, Keith was in front of me and I could see his footprints on the asphalt! Keith! You're leaking!! He told me that a lot of his friends comment on how much he sweats during a run and with the humidity as high as it was this morning, he said he was sloshing in his shoes! Man! I've never done that!

After a good stretch, we both went in and had some of the best pancakes (Rick was manning the griddle) blueberry, chocolate chip, and pecan and brown sugar pancakes! What a great start to the day!