Hills Make You Stronger!

Good Morning!  Hope that you are doing well and enjoying life.  I've had the good fortune to run in a couple different places over the past two weeks (Washington DC and Couer d'Alene, Idaho) and the theme that has emerged has been hills--both the hills I run and the hills of life.  Hope that you enjoy.

Hills.  For runners, they pop up at the most inopportune times--usually when we are extraordinarily fatigued--and they try to break us.  In life, hills pop up both expectedly and unexpectedly and they try to block our path and crush our resolve.  Whether you are running or going through your daily life, it is how you respond to the hills that will ultimately define you.  

Tubbs Hill in Couer d'Alene, ID

I've had the opportunity to run quite a few hills over the past two weeks.  In Washington, DC the area I was staying was filled with them. Probably, my favorite set of hills in DC were located in the zoo that was nearby my hotel.  I was able to run up and down the hills and see (and talk) to the animals.  Yes, of course, you know I was saying hello to the elephants, giraffes, and whatever other animals were out and about. This week I have had the opportunity to run (and jump off the cliffs into the water) Tubbs Hills in Coeur d'Alene (see photo). It's a very quick 2500 foot ascent to the top and the views of the lake and foothills are spectacular.  In both cities being willing to climb the hills have brought rewards (Animals and Views) that would not have been there had I not been willing to run them.  Probably, though, the most meaningful hill I have climbed running over the past two weeks is the one small hill on the route in Broadripple that I run with Liya (not many hills in Indianapolis).  As we run that hill I ask Liya, "what do hills make us?"  She is too young to reply and I say to her, "hills make us stronger and we always attack them."  On the down side of the hill I say, "we climb the hills because on the other side is reward."  The message is clear.  Our family attacks the hills.

Life throws a ton of hills our way and often times they seem unconquerable.  The mistake that many make is that they believe they have to conquer the hill all at once.  However, that simply is not true. When you run the way to attack a hill is in short, measured steps while at the same time monitoring your breathing and cutting the pace when your breath leaves you.  You cannot attack a hill with your regular pace or stride.  It simply won't work and you have to make the adjustments.  You attack a hill one step at a time, one section at a time, and before you know it you've won.  However, if you just look at the top and wonder if you can get there, you may not even try.  I've found the same is true in life. When I am presented with a hill, I sometimes get overwhelmed and go down the path of "I can't." However, once I start looking at the problem and develop a step by step approach, then before I know it the problem is solved.  The hill is climbed.

There are a ton of lessons I will need to teach Liya throughout her life and conquering the hills ranks right up there in terms of importance.  Of course, I've started talking to her about attacking hills on our runs, but we've (Sarah and I) already have put that into practice in her daily life.  I recall the first time Liya had an "accident report" at her school and the teacher called me to come over (my office is across the street).  Liya was maybe 6 months old and was trying to crawl (climbing hills already) and she fell on her face and banged up her lip.  Of course, I was a bit nervous on my walk over and was feeling a range of emotion.  No one wants their kid to be hurt.  I walk into the room and say hello to the teachers (who are wonderful by the way).  I went over to Liya and saw her lip was a bit swollen. Internally, my heart was hurting for her and I wanted to swoop her up and save the day.  Instead,  I smiled at her, patted her on the back and said something along the lines of "good job kid."  And I meant it.  I was proud of her.  She tried to crawl and fell down and I'm sure it hurt, but she got back up.  Again, the message was clear.  We attack those hills. 

Have a great day and thank you for taking time to read my thoughts.  Hope that you go find a couple hills to run this weekend.