Keep Looking up

?No matter the distance or race somewhere in your training it would be a good idea to sprinkle in a little hill work. If I’m being honest with you, I absolutely hate running them but during tough spots in a race, I’m so glad I did. 

Hills build muscles, specifically, your hamstrings and those are important because they propel you forward. They build stamina and no matter if it is a 1K, 5K, 10K or a full marathon, you’re going to need that. But more than anything, hills help to build your confidence and trust me, confidence is just as important as a hamstring or any amount of stamina.

I have been blessed to live in a city that has a stretch of hills that can only be described as a runner’s dream. Just the right inclination to make you feel the burn and the perfect distance…but they’re not easy. I mentioned how they work your hamstrings but friend if you ever run these you will feel it in every part of your body. 

I feel it my calves as they start to tighten toward the top. My sides hurt as I try to keep some semblance of form and finish the task at hand. My upper body doesn’t get off easy as I pump my arms to get every ounce of juice I have in me, my shoulders begin to feel it. Then there is the chest…heaving as I gasp for air, determined to reach the top. Last but not least, there’s your mind saying, “Do it next time”, “You’re fine”…”It’ll be here tomorrow”…

Oh, trust me, it hurts; for days at a time, it hurts but there is the key to my finishing those hill workouts…. 

No matter how much my legs burn, how much I stumble and almost fall, how sore the ankle that I twisted the day before hurts me. When my shoulders and lower back scream “Enough already” or my chest softly says, “No more”…It doesn’t matter if I become nauseated (the thought of the hills makes me feel that way) or thirsty or start to wonder why I didn’t eat more and no matter what that voice in my head says about tomorrow…

The key to me finishing those hills every single time I run them is that I refuse to look down.

I always look up…

***

Think about that hill in your life that you have tried to run so many times and failed. Now be honest with yourself…how many times have you looked down along the way? You looked down and lost control of your child…you looked down and your career, your business got off track…Things got tight, yes your legs started to burn and you looked down and lost your way.   

How about that time you found the right one at some point on that hill, looked down and saw that wrong one you had left in a life far, far away…and all of a sudden…the one who was so right…became so wrong…

Friend, no matter what hill you’re facing, personal, professional or someplace in between…there’s a key to conquering it…

Always look up…