Hills: 40 minutes of continuous hills

Distance: 4.4 miles

Time: 40:35

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★ ★

Gut: ★ ★ ★ ★ .5

Energy: ★ ★ ★ ★

Mind: ★ ★ ★ ★

Overall: ★ ★ ★ ★ .5

Soundtrack: The Darkness, One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back

Ain't nothing more concerning than walking out the door at 4:30AM and smelling a fresh skunk spray. You just know that that little critter is still somewhere close, and probably in an ornery mood. With it being so dark out, you really aren't sure where the little guy could be. Fortunately we didn't have any run-ins. Although, I do think that I might have seen a small fox run across my path as I was half way up a hill!

This run was a good example of how good it is to just get started running. It's Friday, and all these early mornings do start to add up. Plus, it's getting colder out there, and just standing around to put my headphones on gets chilly, even with the proper clothes. So when I hit start on my running ap and stopwatch, those first few steps are not the most exciting. About 0.25 miles into it, you're thinking, "man, are my knees sore? What's this all about?!"

And then, half way through the first set of hills you start to realize that you are warming up, the tunes are good, and this run is going great. I cannot believe how far I have come on this hill in just the past few weeks. This hill run is SUPER steep, and long. Today I felt like I was running this thing with an ease that I certainly did not feel the first time I ran it. It may be the cooler weather, but I do think that some of this training is paying off!

By the time I am on the last down hill to home, everything just felt right. I was nice and awake. My legs felt great, and my overall conditioning felt really good too. I switched out more of a speed / tempo run this morning for these set of hills, and I'm glad that I did. Something I would have never said 3 months ago!