In the thick of things...

We are all back to school and work.  I looked at the calendar the other day and realized I'd been back to work for a month.  Schedules for kid's stuff is flying into the house at a breakneck speed.  We have dance concerts, cross country meets, and orchestra festivals all on the fall line up.  Gone are the days when I would stay up until midnight reading some page turner.  Now I'm lucky if I see 9:30pm.  Twice as lucky if our underwear is clean.

I think those percentages are road grades... 17.9% - I knew it was steep - I just knew it!

Not only that, but my extremely hilly Labor Day run is coming up (yes folks, you have a long weekend coming up in another week - hang in there!).  I had to go do my weekly hill run (are you getting sick of hearing me talk about this hill?).  I had plenty of time to think about why I keep coming back here as I ran.

Why I Hate the Hill:

1. It's steep. 740 tough feet up.

2. I get sweaty.  OK, so maybe I would get sweaty anyway.

3. It's early.  You have to be off by 7:30.  But I have to be at work at 7:30 so what does it matter?

4. It's hard.  Once you get past that half way point, it just gets harder.  And your body won't let you forget.

5. Did I mention that it's hard?  I don't think I have ever felt gravity working so well!

Why I Love the Hill:

1. People are friendly.  They actually wave and say hi. 

2. Cool scenery.  The city view looks great at sunrise.  And even before sunrise.

3. My hilly race is going to be better because of it.  Believe it or not, I went a bit faster today.

4. When you get to the bottom, you know you've accomplished more before 6am than most people do all day.

5. The feeling that you can do it.  And have done it.  And will do it again.  The challenge of it never dies.  And this is sure sculpting my legs!

Hope you're having a wonderful week working on some great challenge of yours!