Take it like a Champ.

You know that fighting scene in movies where the guy is getting punched in the face. The scene we are often grimacing at because he just "takes it." He even entices the aggravator to release more wrath on him, smiling the whole time. Sometimes even saying something like "Is that all you got?"
Well, this little pipsqueak was taking the hills on today with swagger.

THE PLAN: failed at 1:39am. When I was still awake and counting my hours till I had to wake to meet Claudia at 6:30am.
This was the second night in a row I was living on about 4 hours of sleep. I cancelled on Claudia in the middle of the night. I fell asleep sometime after 2am, awaken to my hubbies alarm at 7am. I was UP.
And my day was messed up.

With a run starting at 1 in the afternoon I was going to have to accept the fact it was going to be HOT Hot Hot!

PUNISHMENT "Is that all you got?"
This is where I took the beating. It started in my head first.
I knew it was going to be hot so to add injury to insult I tacked on a hilly route.

When it comes to training sometimes you just gotta look pain in the eye and embrace it. You know it is good for training, you know it'll make you stronger physically and mentally, so you just gotta turn the other cheek.
As I got mid way through the hill, I would look down at my pace and whimpered. I had slowed down. I couldn't afford to slow down. My races demand hill training. My races coming up require hills and all the hills in Holly are still not still not going to be enough for Cloudsplitter in October.
I clenched my fists, got up on my toes and drove my knees into the air trying to pick up the pace. My heart was beating out of my chest, I felt all the blood drain from my body like I had been bitten by a vampire. I screamed at myself to "Get up the hill." God it hurts so bad I cried. At the top of the hill, I wanted to just STOP and BREATH. But I knew I couldn't waste a downhill to recover with.
Over and Over again I tackled the hills.
To a marathon runner, hills the size of speed bumps look like Mt Everest. So looking at my elevation when I got home had me chuckle. During my hilly run I thought I was a Rockstar, however; my elevation made me look more like a Disney Princess.
Oh Well. It Hurt. It was Hot, and I didn't Quit! I took my little hills like a champ!
The only bummer was I slipped my Ipod in my sport bra when I was running. I think the sweat got in it and now my Ipod is BROKE!

RUNDOWN:
Distance:7.0
Pace:8:14/mi
Time: 57:41

Anita