Hills are my friends. I love hills. I will persist until I succeed. I said those things to myself this morning as I ran the hills and humidity of Louisiana. Knowing that I have two races coming up in August that have lots of downhills, my focus is to get stronger and better at hill running – both up and down.

As I was running hills this morning, I thought of how hill running is the perfect metaphor for the things we do everyday. And, how we approach hills is a good indicator of how we deal with other challenges in our lives.

Although I knew that today’s run would be hard, I couldn’t wait to get out there this morning – I looked forward to the challenge. I thought, “How I do anything is how I do everything.” Just saying this helped me as I faced the challenge: I charged up the hills and relaxed on the downs. And, I took one hill at a time and focused on that hill before I turned my attention to the next one. Every time I got to the top of the hill, I felt a sense of accomplishment – I had achieved that goal. How cool is that to achieve 20 accomplishments in one run?

Engaging in any activity that requires me to work harder and draw on inner strength is totally energizing. I am grateful to have the opportunity to test my limits.
You’ve heard people say when they have a tough challenge ahead, “It’s an uphill climb.” And, conversely, when something is easy they say, “It’s all downhill from here.”

I say – Embrace both the ups and downs. We have things to learn from both “hard” and “easy” days. And, keep your eye on the top of the hill – persist until you succeed. Reaching the summit of every hill in your life is the achievement of yet another goal.