the hill

I didn't feel like running today, having been exausted all week and pretty dedicated to cleaning this weekend. But I went outside and did a loop up to the watertower and it was worth it! I warmed up by running around the park and then tackled the watertower hill, and I think it seriously helped my ability to run all the way up that crazy incline.

It's funny, though. At the top of the first hill I thought to myself: That wasn't that hard.

That wasn't that hard.

Last year I could not, for the life of me, run up that hill without stopping. I always, always, always had to walk. I thought about this while approached the second hill and third hill and then the crazy-ass hill to the water tower. And as I was going up the crazy-ass hill then I thought: If I couldn't run all the way up before, why did I always try?

Why did I try?

I have been going up that hill since I moved here two years ago. There are plenty of other neighborhood routes I could have taken, plenty of nearby trails I could have driven to and run. But the hill was there, beckoning me, laughing at me, daring me to conquer it.

Today, I conquered it. I ran it in a sub-11 minute mile, possible as fast as a 10:30 minute mile.

And you know what?

It's double-daring me to run it at a 10-minute mile pace.

And I can't turn down a doubled dare.

Distance: 2.8-2.9 miles
Time: 30 minutes
Avg. Pace: 10:30-10:45 min. mile