Holy Hills of Hell

I wanted to post this last night but couldn’t get ahold of the photos until today.  I was so sick Friday night before the race.  I layed in bed from like-oh I don’t know 7pm until 5:30am.  Yeah, I’m okay with it though because guess whose bod was well rested.

On a side note-who says bod these days.  Where the stars did I pick that up.

I did have to scrape my car off because it was all frosted over at 5:30 in the am.  Rude.

The bus ride was rather uneventful, we got to the race 2.5 hours early.  Why?  Well there was supposedly flooding on the roads from the Hurricane.  Too bad that was 3 weeks ago and it was finally gone from the Mountains.  Then the girls race was delayed an hour.  So the race did not start until 2pm!  That means watching what I ate until then.  Rude.

Incase you wondered, I had pancakes (which I made the night before), a vitatop and a bagel.  It kept me fueled for the race though and I wasn’t sick.  I hate afternoon races.  More time to think about it. 

The race course itself is terrible-point blank.  In the course of a 5k, you change in elevation from 0 to 450 feet and back to 0. 

While running up many hills, I thought to myself…is this real life? 

I wasn’t racing though, once again.  Just jogging it out to keep my NCAA eligibility.  I did well though, so I can’t complain.

I really do run sometimes...

I was blessed that I got my splits too.  I guess this shows how hilly it got:

Mile 1: 6:41

Mile 2:14:52 (8:11)

Mile 3.1: 22:45 (7:08 pace)

Dear god-are those the most ridiculous splits you have ever seen?  The thing was I felt awesome at that first mile, it’s not like I just completely died.  It just got to be more hilly than the dickens.  I literally debated walking up one of the hills because I thought it would be faster.

My spikes were god's gift to this race. That is all. Minus I look a hot mess but I'm over it.

No complainants though, it was a lovely race and I had lots of fun.  My legs are sore from it but I’m over it.

Horray for it being done. 🙂

Um yes.  Hills.  I need to work on those.

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Question for you:

Is it hilly where you live?  Do you like down hills?

It is not too hilly on any of my running routes. My area is full of rolling hills though that I should be practicing on.  I need to just continue to build my miles though before I integrate hill workouts too.  I am planning on doing long runs (like yesterday…I ran 7.66 miles) on these rolling hills to become used to it.

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30 Comments

  1. I can’t imagine racing at 2pm. I would certainly be underfueled or get sick to my stomach. The earlier, the better. I actually like running hills…no choice in Atlanta (I would say 100-150 ft. per mile net up is the norm), and it’s really fun to kick people’s butts up hills later in races, because so many people flame out. It’s also really cool to go to a flat course and destroy it, because hills slow you down a bit, but make you really strong and fast. How did you deal with the bloomer sitch? And they are not that bad…

  2. Awesome job Hollie!!! There are definitely some hilly areas right in our neighborhood and they kill me every time!

  3. Nice job, especially for taking it easy!

    I live on a mountain. Imagine how enjoyable my runs are… Hehe I actually love hills though. Keeps it interesting and challenging. Running at my house is like going straight up, straight down, up, down, up up up. Ridiculous hills (i call them mountains). We live at about 5000 ft…

  4. I live in NYC, so all the hills were flattened out 100 years ago…ha. Although I hate uphills when I’m on them, finally hitting the top is AWESOME, and I actually prefer up to down because on the way down I’m always seeing visions of falling on my face and losing my teeth. Yeah, that is my number one concern while running…haha.

  5. Where I live it is completely flat. There are a few hills in town but not very many and certainly nothing like what you mentioned 450 feet. I don’t like hills anyway!

    You did really well at your race for not even racing it :). But it stinks to have to watch what you eat all day because of the afternoon

  6. It’s really hilly where I live. I hate going down hills though.

    But man. I love hills and I need to work on them since I haven’t been running that much.

  7. It’s not very hilly here, and FL is supa flat, so hills kick my asssssssssssss. I can barley walk up them. Seriously. I was not made for hills to be a part of my life. God forbid I move to San Fran! 🙂 Great job, though!

  8. Those splits are not bad at all especially with such a bitch of a hill or 20! Well done, I’d prob give up ahhaa! It is RIDICULOUSLY hilly were I lie in Wales so I often count going on an errand as a workout – phew!

  9. oof. running up hills does NOT sound like a good time! we used to have to do that at soccer when our coach thought we were being disrespectful!!

  10. Glad you survived the hills! Hah I definitely live in a hilly area, and my apt is in the middle of a pretty big hill. I don’t mind hills anymore because I run them all the time.

  11. The main thing is you had fun! Your spikes are flash 🙂
    I used to hate hills but now with more hill training…I have more confidence in attacking those darn things. I have 2 hills in my usual run.

  12. Wowza those splits are crazy – that hill must be ridiculous. I agree with you on afternoon races – unfortunately the race directors here think it’s fun to make the varsity runners run the last race. Which sucks because I have to wait all day and no one wants to wait for me to do a cooldown after my race.
    It’s not hilly at all here. I think we have one hill in town. That’s why I got 3rd place this weekend and not 2nd. Dammit I need to move.

  13. Way to go Hollie! I hate hills lol. What were the winning mens and womens times?

    By “That means watching what I ate until then. Rude.” do you mean you had be cognizant of what you ate so as to not over or under do the amount of food before the race?

    I have a half marathon that starts at 10 PM! How do I do that day??

  14. Congrats on your race! Love the shoes!! We live in a flat area and have to drive to get in hill training, which I need to do more often.

  15. You’re an all-star. Where I live is super hilly compared to other places, but most of the time I love the hills. I’m a much better uphill runner than flat or downhill. I eat them for breakfast. 😉

  16. What a nasty 5 k! Good job on the race, Hollie!
    I actually race best on hills because I normally train on trails. My xcountry coach says the moment I hit flat ground is when I slow down. I am a freak of nature!

  17. Congratulations on the race!
    Ohmygosh- I HATE hills. When I went on vacation to Hawaii this summer (or…last summer ?) I ran around the golf course and it was just a big ol hill. It about killed me everytime I went out there to run!! Constantly going up and down, then there were tons of STEEP hills. ug!

  18. I would love some hills. Being from the Midwest makes for some FLAT, dull landscaping. I would love some rolling hills or even some mountains. Ahh, wishful thinking.

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