Conquering Killer Hill

I am a little stunned. I am really getting stronger. I didn't want to walk this morning, but I knew I had to. Yesterday I barely made 3,000 steps between a doctor's appointment that took hours and errands I needed to do. Today I had to pick up the pace again.

I left the house and started out, but as I walked I realized it was the perfect time to take the dog. The air was still relatively cool and by afternoon it would be back in the 80's. I went ahead and walked the half-mile loop and picked up the dog on my way past the house.

Maggie was just what I needed. She started out almost at a trot. I had to hurry to keep up with her. My route today was the mile and half route that involves the steep hills. I've come to recognize them as Killer Hill and Canyon Hill. I should add here, that I was a Floridian for almost 30 years. FLAT terrain is what I consider normal. So while the local residents may see these hills as just hills, to me, they are really big. The road I was on ends in a turnaround at the top of Canyon Hill. Killer Hill is fine starting out. The first time I encounter it I am going down. I like down! Down is fun. Down isn't stressful. And I have a fantastic view of the hills in the distance.

But once I get down, I have a short level area before the hill begins to climb up to the turnaround. It is the only way out of the canyon, thus the name. Once I'm at the top of Canyon Hill the process reverses itself...down Canyon Hill and up Killer Hill, named because, by now, I'm dead!

I don't understand how it happened, but today I ran! Maggie and I started down Killer Hill at a fast walk. About half way down I started to jog. Maggie trotted. I looked ahead to the level area and where the road begins a gradual incline. (This is like a foothill to Canyon Hill.) There was a bull dozer about half way up the incline. "Maybe I can make it to the bulldozer... don't even think it... you know how you are on running. You'll get to the bottom and quit... just run till you stop". This is how I encourage (?) myself. I continued to jog. Head down, seeing only my feet, pant, pant.... huff, huff, one foot in front of the other... pant, pant, ...."wait... Did I just pass 2 pickups? There weren't any pickups near the bull dozer.... where is the bull dozer?"

I glanced up and saw the trucks. I looked around. The bull dozer was 30 feet behind me! Holy COW!!!! How did that happen?

At the top of the foot hill, I stopped and let the dog off the leash. We were past the construction and it was open road from here. Maggie loped off and I kept walking. Head down...seeing only my feet... climbing Canyon Hill. My mind kept thinking about stuff as my feet kept moving, one step in front of the other. When I looked up again, I was at the top of Canyon Hill. I am always excited when I make it up without stopping. My heart was pounding, water was running off my face, but I was still moving.

After doing a few laps around the turnaround to catch my breath, I started back down. Once again, I started to jog and kept jogging after I reached the bottom. Maggie caught up with me and I put her leash back on as we began Killer Hill. We weren't moving very fast by now, but we were moving and we never stopped. The last stretch up to our house is the perfect cool down. Neither of us are moving very fast. In fact, I'm always walking ahead of the dog on the last part, but we keep going.

I looked at the clock when I walked in. 50 minutes, 2 miles, 5,000 steps, and I had run much more than I've ever done before.

Could I ever get like the Biggest Loser contestants? Imagine me, a runner. It's still a pipe dream, but for the first time I see a little light at the end of that pipe.