When we started with Saturday Running it was autumn and I was a little nervous about the dark season and that I wouldn't be able to motivate myself to train without the support of a group like Saturday Running.

And now it's spring and it was so nice to take running up to the sky, away from asphalt. On average it takes 30 minutes to run 5km on the road, so I was surprised to discover that it took all seven of us, more or less, 30 minutes to get up to the Hoven summit. It was so good to meet each other on a peak with such a nice view and to see Brenna and Brennaveien from a bit of a distance.

A good reason to get up early on a Saturday!

Even though we'll run the usual route next Saturday, it would be a bit crazy not to take the opportunity to climb more mountains together over the coming Saturdays. The weather will be allowed to call the shots a bit. Watch this space!

On the mountain trip to Hoven, it was Rune who set the pace as we started the clock at ten o'clock and ran from the parking lot over on Gimsøy. Daniel was "hot on his heels" but he started off too fast and soon Rune took a safe lead and reached the top in 20:32 minutes. While Daniel slowed down and switched to a more realistic pace, Lasse picked up the pace and panted away behind Anna. Anna was in a good mood and took pictures along the way as the tension grew between the three from Brenna who were going as fast as they could go! Sometimes it was Lasse who came first and sometimes Hedda took the lead from him. Meanwhile, two new members came up behind: Inger from Syddal, who was very happy that we weren't running on asphalt for once, and Halle, who couldn't resist the chance to go on a mountain trip on his local mountain even though it had been a long time since he'd been to the top….

"I was last here in my childhood, I think"

said Halle, who was a little nervous to see so many eager and impatient to reach the top so early on a Saturday morning!

Aiming high!

So it was the birthday boy who reached the top first,

Proud birthday goat!

Anna afterwards, Hedda came third and then came Daniel, Lasse, Inger and finally Halle.

Lasse leading before Hedda caught him!Go! Go! Go!

Everyone reached the top in good shape and in a good mood, and everyone made it to the top before Rune started getting cold. There was a great atmosphere with a bit of sharing of all the photos Anna had brought along for the article.

There was a lot more variation in running down from the mountain. Rune, who is a crazy goat when it comes to running down mountains, ran down in just over 10 minutes and got tenth place on the overall leaderboard on Strava, which was a nice birthday gift to himself. Meanwhile there was a lot of fighting and elbows between Daniel and Anna who tried to beat the others on the way down, but in the end it was Daniel who came down first in just over 15 minutes due to Anna's failed attempts to find a shortcut! Unfortunately Daniel didn't have Strava on, so according to the app's "leaderboard" it was Anna who beat him! (Until next time, Daniel!) As Rune likes to say, if it's not on Strava, it didn't happen! Lasse came down like a sly goat soon after Anna. While Hedda, Halle and Inger were more sensible and didn't run down, to avoid injuries and to enjoy the view instead of chasing segments!

It was lovely to visit the café at Gimsøy and the selection of carrot cake and chocolate brownies and donut was an excellent reward for our effort, especially as Rune paid because we'd made a deal that he could reach the top first if he paid at the café. We have to do that again!

But the mood got a little tense when we all looked at Strava and saw that Lasse had beaten Daniel on the "Hoven Climb" segment even though Daniel had reached the summit first. He fired off an angry shot and we had to take the discussion outside the café before it got too heated.

"That's not right! Impossible!"

But now winter is back, so we'll return to the Gravermark local shop next Saturday and run the usual 5 km for Brennaveien. I'm sure we'll see some "Personal Bests" after all the training in the mountains and maybe we'll meet some new members and…

Saturday Running exploring a motto!