Back to the Hills

I started getting into running races back in 2004, when I first started working at the law firm I'm still at. I had been jogging for exercise for a long time, but was never interested in running a race. Then, in June 2004, my boss and his wife, Cheryl, invited me to run a 5K with them. I loved it and thus started the addiction.

That first summer, Cheryl also convinced me to do some hill training. She drove me to a town about 30 minutes north of my town. We parked at a little park by the river. And ran straight up hill. The two mile loop (which we run twice) has three SERIOUS hills, and two gentle inclines. The four mile workout has been a fixture of my summer training ever since that first time.

I've been feeling the itch to get back out to the hills for a few weeks. I just wasn't sure whether I should add them now during marathon training. I've been following the FIRST plan, which calls for three runs a week (a speed workout, tempo run, and long run). So I've been a little nervous about adding another hard run to my weekly schedule. I finally decided to just do it. I love hill running, and hill training is always good, right?

So today, Cheryl, Mike, and I hit the hills. It was awesome. Hard. Couldn't really breathe. Felt like I was having a heart attack. Like I said, awesome. Can't wait till next week!