Hills, hills and winter leggings.

After a tough day at school, I couldn't wait to get home and run as far as possible.

I went out, donning my winter running leggings, a long-sleeved shirt and mittens. There was frost all over the ground and the wind did not make the first 15 minutes of the run enjoyable. The cold wind made my nostrils stick together and my breathing laboured. I decided to persevere, veering from my usual, mundane route and chose to tackle the country hills.

My usual route is flat, with minor hills and small turns, but this time I doubled my length and difficulty factor. It started with a massive hill, well massive to me, that ran 1/2K down the 'highway' on a gravel shoulder. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but in roadrunning shoes and a freshly laid gravel shoulder, it was like running on marbles.

I made it down and felt amazing, usually after running downhill my quads feel like they've been beaten with a meat cleaver but I took my time and remembered to breathe calmly.

The next road depicted a classic fall scenery, beautiful trees with colourful leaves falling gently to the asphalt road before me. The leaves flew behind me as I ran through them. On the other side of the road were leaveless trees and uninhabitated houses with barking small dogs.

Somehow, my feet had moved in my shoes while travelling down the previous hill and my toes were being driven against the toe of my shoes. I continued along slowly, wriggling my toes as I went to aleivate some of the pressure placed on them.

A group of leaves flew through the air, I stopped to watch them gracefully fly around me.

One hit me in the face, making me double over with laughter before continuing along, wary of the many vicious leaves circling me.

My next road came up slowly on the right and guided me along empty farm fields. It was a short gravel road that led to my greatest challenge yet.

The next road was a hill. One giant hill of about 1 1/2K with tiny plateaus in the hill to allow for breathers. I thought my calves were going to shrivel up, they were so tight and tired. The hills were not your average, gentle sloping hills. They were 90 degree hills, okay... maybe that's an exxageration, they were 85 degrees. Those, combined with the cold and my tiredness made it feel like hell.

Finally, I could see the top, air peeked between the top of the final hill and the bowed trees.

It was amazing. I now understand what people mean when they talk about a 'runners high'. I couldn't catch my breath when I reached the top of the hill, but I turned around and looked down at whence I came. It was breathtaking. I had just climbed a hill that I didn't think I would ever be able to.

Wow.

The rest of the way home was a blissful blurr as I thought about my accomplishment for the day. 6K, that's a 1K more than I have ever run. And it's 3K more than my normal runs. I tend to avoid hills, but was looking for a challenge today to regain my motivation. It had been found.