Eating Hills for Breakfast

The San Francisco Rock n Roll Half Marathon is officially 73 days away. In terms of endurance, I feel fine. I’ve been alternating my long runs between 8, 9 and 10 miles. It won’t take long for me to ramp up to be ready for 13.1 miles. What is going to take some time is the hill training. There’s about three big inclines with several smaller ones. Here’s the official elevation change graph.

courtesy of Rock n Roll SF

I want to be prepared for all of those hills, so training began today. My running partner and I ditched our normal easy and flat running trail and headed for the hills. And… it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Our elevation gain was about 200 feet, or so my running partner told me, my running app crapped out and didn’t record the full run. I used this running trail as a test run. We have our sights set on a much hillier trail run, but the scaredy cat in me couldn’t bring myself to start there. Let’s set ourselves up for success shall we?

As I begin training for San Francisco and her infamous hills, do you have any tips to make eating hills for breakfast more palatable?

I (will) eat hills for breakfast

My husband and I signed up for the San Francisco Rock n Roll Half Marathon next March. We made sure to register before the price increase! No procrastination here (for once)! My husband also was pleased to see that this race has a pretty generous refund policy which includes  injury, illness, and unexpected travel delays. Brownie points to the race directors at the Rock n Roll, I like how you think.

I am a big fan of the Rock n Roll series. I’ve raced in the half marathon in San Jose and full marathon in San Diego. The races are always well organized, high energy and really fun to be a part of. I believe the San Francisco location has only been around for 2-3 years. Last year, I was interested in signing up but one tiny little thing stood in my way.

Actually make that three 300 foot gargantuan things.

The hills are alive with the sound of San Francisco. Call me a baby, but I avoid hills like the plague. And even though it’s always one of those things that I know I should do, I just can never bring myself to add hill training to my workouts.

So. Much. Pain.

But there is that old saying, no pain, no gain right and by signing up for this half marathon I will HAVE to train hills. Hill training conjures up feelings of anxiety and dread. I will have to remind myself that this was a voluntary assignment. I have no one to blame but myself.

Speaking of The Hills, I can’t think of a better way to accentuate a post on hill training than with some gifs from my friends Lauren, Whitney and Audrina. Let’s be honest, life is better with a little Lauren Conrad thrown into it. My not so guilty reality TV pleasure will precisely illustrate all of my current feels:

To answer the question, why am I doing this?

I guess I am sort of a glutton for punishment

To inspire myself during my inevitable hill workouts:

What I hope to look like after hill workouts:

What I’ll actually look like:

Okay hills, let’s go.

26.2 Miles Later

I have a shiny new medal.