Running Hills to Boost Fun

Week three is long gone and I'm halfway through week 4. Time flies when you're having fun.

Over the last two weekends, at various social gatherings (ouw ouw!!), several of you have commended the determination and training that must go into preparing to run a marathon. Your comments and questions have really gone to my head--I should say I feel like a pretty badass running machine.

And although I thank you for the support, I must take this time to iterate that I am not a badass running machine. Sure, I can hide behind my blog and sound like a real racer, or dress up in my custom fit running shoes and hardcore running clothes and look like a marathon woman, but in person, while running, I'm pretty pathetic. Legs jarring, feet scuffing along, hardly clearing the ground, my kitchen timer tied to my shoes in lieu of a stopwatch, face exuding sweaty discomfort--I'm less than an inspiring image.

But somehow, my perception of my running experience is always that I am having fun.

At our last practice (along the beautiful Kirkland waterfront), the TNT coaches encouraged us to start adding hills to our workouts. At 8 am on a Saturday, this does not sound necessary. And at 5 pm on a Tuesday, it still does not sound necessary. And then Fitness Guru/Teacher/Master Erin Thekkedom enlightened me. She helped me understand that hills help make the flat parts easier.

If you can run a hill, you can run a faster flat. The hill adds natural resistance to the original running motion. When you remove the resistance, the original motion seems easier, either because the hill strengthens the running muscles or because it simply provides a beneficially painful contrast to the following flats.

Subjecting myself to hills means I'll enjoy the flats more. If I push through the hills, I'll have more fun on the flats. If I work hard a little, I'll have a lot more fun.

So I've added a hill to every day since. I'll let you know next week how much more fun the flats have become.

And perhaps this marathon training (and fundraising--yes, I'm still asking for donations!) experience is my present life's metaphorical hill. I'm adding to my life the resistance of almost-daily runs, dietary changes, constantly soliciting donations, weekly blogs (holla!), and weekly team practices. And I'm honestly having fun. By training to enjoy life with this much resistance, I'm training to automatically experience more fun on the flats, in the everyday life.