Hill climb recap

Okay, so I didn't actually traverse up a mountainside (I do live in Florida...no peaks here). But I did run at an incline on the treadmill last night.

And it was awesome.

I decided to vary my 6-miler by running for a 1/2-mile with the incline, and then 1/2-mile flat. And, now I know this doesn't seem like a steep incline or anything (because it's not), but I set it to 1%. I didn't want to push myself too hard, and I've still got 8 weeks left of hill runs to endure, so I started out small. But I still felt the burn.

But what's most important about this run is that I actually did it without stopping for a walk break. And this is really going to make me sound like a novice runner, but I've never run more than 5 miles without stopping for a walk break -- and that was on the flat stuff.

It was just a great run. Maybe it was the "intervals" of my hills. During the 1/2 mile of uphill, I just kept telling myself to stick it out, it'll get easier, you'll be running on flats in less than a half mile, and I just kept going. I'm not going to lie and say that my last interval of incline was cake. Because it wasn't. I had to literally think about putting one foot in front of the other.

I feel like I'm reaching a breakthrough in my running these days. My endurance, my speed, my attitude, my mileage. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and it's not wearing me out. It's pushing me further.

In fact, I was talking to the husband the other day about my first half marathon. I trained for it -- sort of. The farthest distance I ran before race day was 8.5 miles. And the race totally kicked my ass, as reflected in my crappy time. And now, I'm running 8, 9, 10, 11 milers at least twice a week and it feels great. I told the husband that I'm just itching to run a half marathon now because I know that I could do it, and I could do it well. If somebody told me tonight, "Hey, let's run a half marathon tomorrow morning," I would jump at the chance and do it.

I remember being soo soo nervous the morning of my half. And it was a painful experience. It was difficult and my lack of training was obvious. But I feel so much more confident now.

THIS IS WHY I LOVE RUNNING!!!

Confidence, people. If you want some, start running.

This isn't to say running is easy all the time. Because sometimes it sucker punches me hard in the stomach. Every run can't be great. Or even good. Sometimes they're downright nasty. But the good ones make it worth every step.