Running Hills

So it has been so long since my last post. I can't really say why I have slacked off but I have. So I figured I better start back up again.

So a couple of months ago I joined a running club. Mostly I go to the Wednesday night track workouts as a way to get in some good speed work sessions and also to associate with other runners. Yes it can get rather running nerdy as we discuss things like shoes, toenails, training and other running related matters. For the past few weeks we have not been able to use the high school track we normally use so we meet at our secondary location, a local park with some hills.

So last night, it was over 100 degrees and we had a workout that consisted of sprinting up a hill and down hill. I wasn't excited to do it, but I went.

I believe it was Oprah who said that running is a perfect metaphor for life, you get out of it what you put into it. I couldn't agree more. As I awoke this morning feeling a little stiff and a lot tired, I thought about what metaphor I could gain from these hill sprints.

Our assignment was to run three sets of ten with a short break in between each set. The first few I ran up the hill ready to take on the challenge. Then I slowed. After the first set I stopped, grabbed a drink and started again. I went much slower, walking at the top in the shade. It got harder and harder with each climb and my "sprints" became a jog at best. By the end of it all, I was exhausted and thirsty. My throat hurt and my lungs burned, and forget about how my legs were feeling. It was tough but what I knew is that I needed to run those hills, I needed them to make me stronger, to make me a faster runner. As much as I hated it, I wanted those hills.

This morning as I lay in bed I thought about life. About how sometimes we are given challenges, or hills, that we have to go up. Life has not been easy for me, just as it hasn't been easy for most everybody I know. There are always challenges and obstacles for us to overcome. Sometimes we can sprint over them, sometimes we jog, and sometimes we crawl. Sometimes we wish someone could carry us up the hill, just as I wished someone would have carried me, but in the end the best we can hope for is that we can lean on someone when we need to. The fact is that we must use our own legs if we want to get stronger.

Yesterday I became a stronger runner because I ran hills, in the heat. Just like everyday that I choose to overcome my challenges I become stronger as a person. A year or two ago there were challenges in my life that I thought were too great to overcome. I thought I was too weak to make it through them and I wanted to give up. I kept going, sometimes barely, and today I am stronger because of it.

I have learned in running that to become faster and stronger it is not easy. It requires hard work and sacrifice. It has literally taken blood, sweat and a lot of pain for me to run like I do. I don't run faster than most, or further than most. To most others I am just an average runner. The last 5K I ran, I finished 196 out of nearly 1,000 runners. Nothing too special but to me it was my fastest 5K time.

Others may look at me like an average guy, but I know that I am more than average. I know that I have overcome a lot, that I am stronger mentally and emotionally than I have ever been. I know that although I am not perfect or complete, I am closer than I was.

I don't always go out of my way looking for a hill to climb but when I see one, I see an opportunity to get stronger. I don't go looking for challenges and trials in my life, but when they come along I try to remember that they will make me stronger.