For those who love climbing Hills : )

Oh Come On…It’s Not THAT Steep!

by Hilary Weeks

June 18th, 2012

Killer Hill.

It’s about a half mile from our house and it is as bad as it sounds.  Not because there are criminals lurking in the bushes, but because it is a SUPER STEEP CLIMB.  My treadmill has a max incline of 12% and if I had to guess the incline of Killer Hill…it would be at least 82.567%.  I swear it feels like you are running at a 90 degree angle.

The short but arduous, lung-burning climb is fresh in my memory; I faced it last Saturday.  About a mile before approaching the hill, a car passed me.  It looked like one of my girl friend’s cars.  As it passed I thought, “If that was Emily, and she pulled over to see if I wanted a ride so I didn’t have to run up Killer Hill, I would gladly, willingly, gratefully accept.”

That thought was immediately squelched by this one…

“If you can’t do the hard, then you don’t deserve the easy.”

I arrived at the base of the hill.  I stopped, and waited until I could breathe so my lungs would be ready.  I even said a prayer that my body and mind would be strong.  I rarely make it to the top without stopping, hunched over, grabbing my knees, gasping for high-altitude air.

Today, I wanted to conquer the hill.

I wanted to run to the top.  No walking.

I thought about a goal that I’ve been hoping to achieve.  I  told myself that if I made it to the top without stopping or walking, it would symbolically represent me achieving the goal.

I began.  Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I kept my head down.  I didn’t want to see how far I had to go, I just wanted to see each step I took to get there.  I thought of my desired goal.  The hope and vision of achieving it carried me to the top.

I felt victorious…and nigh unto death.

Killer Hill Takeaways…

1.  If I am not willing to push to the top of a painful hill, then I don’t deserve the flat ground.  I appreciate the 0% incline much, much more after experiencing the effort of the steep climb.  (That is an analogy for life…)

2. I can do hard things. (And so can you.)

3. Prayer works.

4. When you are approaching something HARD – get your mind right.  Stop.  Pause.  Focus.  Tell yourself you can do it.  And then go.

5.  When you are focused on your dreams, it makes the effort worth it.