Running for Your Life: Hills Are Alive

Don’t underestimate the importance of hills.

When it comes to a runner nerd post, this might take the cake. If it’s not for you, stop now. (You’ve been warned …)

So many of these running-specific posts come down to the question of, How Do You Motivate Yourself to Keep Going? Not how do you keep your body fit enough to do so, but your mind.

One answer: Hills Are Alive.

Park Slope, Brooklyn, where I’ve lived for 27 years, is named “slope” for a reason. From my address below Sixth Avenue, the road is pitched upward to get to Prospect Park, which is not exactly flat land itslef. In fact, there are two hills on the 3.3-mile Outer Drive run. And plenty of hilly expanses mid-park.

Running outside I head for those hills. So much so that even in a quick 30-minute run, I’m probably spending 7-10 minutes going uphill. 

My mind, in fact, demands that I choose the most uphill challenge. (In the 3½ block run to the park, I chose to go up the most vertical in my vicinity, Fifth Street.) In that half-hour run, I don’t lope around, but rather test myself in the rocky hills mid-park.

When I return home I’m psyched with how much better I feel than when I left. Only 30 minutes? But a lifetime of them, keeping the hills alive within me, has made quite a difference in how I manage my day, my months, my years ...

Next: Running for Your Life: Two Books to Read Next

0 comments: