hills are good for the soul

whew! Last night was kind of rough. Kathy and I decided to be brave (read: Kathy decided to be brave and I thought it wasn't a half bad idea) and run hills last night. I've run hills before. For the Twin Cities 10 mi, Erica and I made a point of running a particularly nasty hill many times because it would be right at the beginning of the race for us, and the more practice the better. That began my inherent dislike of hills. It was never easy, never fun, never seemed to get any better. On race day last year, that was my one big slow down point, and it took a lot out of me for awhile in the miles that followed. I could do without hills!


But I'm pretty sure that Honolulu is not flat, and I know it's good for strength or whatever, so it'll have to be done sooner or later. Might as well start sooner, right?

With a one mile warmup, we started downhill. Definitely easy. Then Coach Dave gave us some tips on running hills (which were effective in showing me that I've done it wrong every other time I've ran) and we were off. We started with "Bounders, " which is pretty much what it sounds like, we bounded up 1/2 the hill. It was fun to start out, kind of felt like I was in a video game to jump that high and get propelled, but my poor legs got tired quickly. That is to be done every odd hill (the schedule said 7 hills for the intermediate folks). By the top of the first hill, I had already been reminded to keep my head up and my arms straight....but there were high fives waiting and smiles all around.

The jog to the bottom didn't quite help me catch my breath all the way, but at least we didn't have to bound again. By the top of the 2nd hill, I needed a quick water break. That was better, but then more Bounders!! My 3rd time up, I felt so spent! Kathy went ahead and I started stretching to cool down. After a few minutes tho, I did feel better and ended up meeting Kathy a little less than 1/2 way down and finished out 1 more hill, so I guess I technically did about 4 1/2 hills. But running up the 5th time, I think I figured out the form of it, I could keep my body still and hold my head straight and keep my breathing even, and I actually didn't want to die when I got to the top! So I sorta want to do it again (I know I'll get a chance before too long).

Kathy and I rode back to her place exultant in our performance, feeling on top of the world for being able to conquer such an intimidating thing. I've decided that I should maybe always have a marathon that I'm training for, I'm to the point where I look forward to every run.