The Wonderful World of Hills

Hills kick my ass, and i do mean "kick" my ass. They also serve to remind me that I've got a long way to go in my training. I can run 30k without much of a problem, but a few hill repeats and I'm on the ground fighting for air.

 

I've read that the Kenyans consider hill running one of their primary forms of training. They talk about how their form becomes more precise as their bodies needs to flow in an optimal fashion charging uphill. As they win race after race, they must have it right.

 

Fortunately for me, I've always had a love affair with hills. When I was younger I remember a field trip to Washington D.C. and the bus climbing a long hill on the highway. I wondered if we would be allowed to run the hill on the shoulder. Later, as I was older, when I am in a car and on a hill; my mind wanders to what it might be like to run it. The challenge of a hill calls to me. I like nothing more than painful challenge of wrestling it to its knees.

 

But hills are the bane of the running world. A place of pain and challenge. Nothing will test you like an sharp incline. A runner's fitness is tested as he or she struggles to the top.

 

And it's always the same with me. I have to meet that test, head on, teeth gritted. I feel a need to confront the hill. I even need to sprint a little, push my pace, as I head to the top. I fall inside myself and think of nothing else but the climb.

 

Even if you’re running with a group, there’s no place for chitchat. The mind turns inward. The outside world is replaced by the hill. What matters is the simple pursuit of doing your best and slowly getting up the hill, one step at a time.

 

Now there's nothing more devastating than being passed by another runner on an incline, especially if he or she does it handily and with little indication of effort. It has happened to me and it will happened again. When my girlfriend asks me about my run, it will be the first thing I complain about: "I got dusted on a hill." It puts you in your place. You feel weighed and found wanting as never before in your training. Luckily, your passage of another runner on a hill will validate your training and time spent on hill repeats. It's more than a better ass, it's about a better stronger tougher runner.