Fun Facts Friday - Hills

Raise your hand if you're happy that it's Friday? I have both hands up in the air. It's Friday and it's a rest day for me. I actually slept until 5:40 this morning too. It's the little things right?

Speaking of little things, and big things too really, lets talk about hills. A few weeks ago I was emailing with my friend Jolene about running, running routes, and hills. The next run, all I could do was think about our email chat and about hills.

It's hard to avoid hills entirely unless you go to a track. So, as a runner, you have to learn to contend with them somehow. You either dread them and try to avoid them. Or you suck it up and stare them down and challenge them. Or you just try not to think about it. Like if you don't think too much, it won't be so bad.

But all hills are not created equal. And they affect you so much differently depending on where you're at with your run. The first hill might not seem so bad. Silly me for being nervous about it. But then when you've been out there for a bit and your legs are starting to get heavy, a teeny tiny blip feels like a mountain. Am I right or is it just me?

For Fun Facts Friday, I thought I would share the types of hills runners face. And this is from my perspective of course. I look forward to hearing your types of hills and how you tackle them. 

Gradual inclines - these might be the most deceiving of all hills. These are the stretches of road (sometimes a mile long) that at first glance seem flat. Then you start to feel like you're working harder and harder, running in place. What the heck? Then you really focus on the road and you realize…it's all one.big.long.long.incline. 

Bridges - bridges can be tricky. One side somehow is always steeper than the other. Some can be fairly steep inclines that arch up, others resemble a gradual incline. And you know that if you go over one bridge, you're likely to have to cross the same one again or another one to get back. 

Rolling - these hills never seem to end. You see one and you think, ok, I can do this. Then you get to the top and start the decent only to realize that another one awaits you. 

Monsters - these are just the king of all hills plain and simple. You can't over think them, you have to either avoid them or just tackle them head on and hope you survive. 

Blips - these are almost like gradual inclines, they sort of spring out of the ground out of nowhere. You're just humming along and then, bam, a small hill. They aren't incredibly steep or anything. They just surprise you and you find yourself huffing and puffing a little confused as to where it came from. Blips are also far worse the longer you've been running.  

Source: littlemissnike.tumblr.com via Alissa on Pinterest

What are your thoughts on hills? Love to hate? Hate hate? Try not to think about? And how do you tackle them? Maybe I should do some hill repeats now.

Daily To-Enjoy List:

Rest day

Friday

Picking up new running shoes