New Run, New Route

I did it everybody! I ran a new run route this morning and PHEW am I exhausted. I’m not exhausted because it was about 1 mile longer than my regular neighborhood loop. Nope, I am exhausted due to the mental hurdle I had to overcome to keep my legs powering through them HILLS! Here in Owings Mills there are a bunch of hills. I mean steep, someone tie a rope around my waist and smack the horse on the butt so it can pull me STEEP!

DEEP hills that make your quads, hams and calves SIIIIINNNGGGG! While my muscles were singing, my music was blaring keeping me focused and in the zone. I ran with a running buddy but honestly the only time we get a chance to chit chat is well…before we start our actual run. Once we warm up and pick up the pace, we both plug in our earphones and get in our own separate zones. If one is ahead of the other we don’t even look back to see if we left the other. It’s cool though because that is our understanding and we know where to meet back at when it is done.

I turned the first corner and BLAM there was the initial hill but in my mind I said “make it to the red light”. Which I did and then I had to bring my heart rate back down. Walked another block and then hit the next hill. I swear the last .10^th of a mile was KILLER just to get to the corner. Had to start walking again. The breeze from the cars whizzing by felt good because while the air was cool and crisp, I was getting sweaty. Then ran another block to the next corner turned the corner and WOWZER nothing but an incline the entire next 1.5 miles!

Who are we kidding right now? Man I am about to walk these last 1.5 miles and really work my glutes and hams and that is exactly what we did. It was good because we got to talk and chit chat a little since we figured this is the only time we would spend together this day and possibly this weekend. Running and working out with friends is me time and time for me to connect with friends I just do not have the time to see during the week due to our busy professional and family lives. I enjoyed this new route and plan to conquer ALL THE HILLS with practice. It’s only 4 minutes away so I know I can easily get there without taking away too much time from family and it is a great new challenge. Our bodies need that you know….challenges to keep it guessing and that is just what I plan to do with this new run and new route.

How have you challenged yourself lately?