This weekend I defeated the hill again but one block after the peak I had to slow my pace to a fast walk to allow my breathing and heart rate to normalize. Kona looked back at me, puzzled as if to say “keep pushing, don’t let me down!” But I had to walk for just a bit to catch my breath again, clearly I was excited about the hill climb and had run at a faster pace than normal.

When I got home I felt discouraged by what I considered at the time a failure, the hill had taken just enough out of me that I had to walk part of the route I had chosen to run. However, later in the afternoon I realized that I’m doing myself a favor by pushing a faster pace up the hill and really challenging myself and I started dreaming about doing hill sprints and how the pain involved certainly must be equal to the feeling of accomplishment that comes afterward.

Goal for next week: circle the block twice four double hill climb action.