Over the Hill We Go

Five hundred pairs of feet grabbed at the dirt, grass and caked mud on the slopes of Centennial Hill one warm October afternoon. A thousand shoes pounded the sides of the hill, trying to reach the top, trying to get past the agonizing burn in their legs and the screaming in their minds to slow down.

Some began to walk up the big, steep hill, others seemed to sprint to the top. I tried to run as fast as I could (not very fast) up the slope, repeating one thing to my self, "Always run fast up a hill, always run fast up a hill."

This mantra was one of many given to me by my father, the same marathon runner that made "the legs feed the wolf," a common encouragement as well.

But Centennial was no normal hill, it was the largest I had ever come face to face with in a race. Add in the fact that there were five hundred other runners acting as a sort of reverse avalanche up the hill and it was quite daunting.

The saying worked though, and I felt the same spark of energy mixed with the painful fire in my over worked legs as I always did after reaching the top of a hill.

The hills I have faced running and the metaphorical hills we all face in life are different, but also have more similarities than you may think.

We all face problems and obstacles in life, some that seem too big to overcome or too dangerous to confront, just like runners face monstrous hills in a race.

We may seem too tired by previous legs on our journey or be discouraged by the number of people that have or are still struggling with the same mountain of problems.

But remembering the piece of advice "Always run fast up a hill" can make a big difference.

Many times I have stopped a certain journey through life short by ending it at the foot of a big, hill-like problem. Other times I have walked up the hill, giving a lacklustre effort or struggling with the problem or wishing someone would climb the hill for me.

But when faced with hills in life, big or small, like a challenging home work assignments, a medical concern, a financial woe or a plugged toilet, we should try to remember to confront the problems head on, defeat procrastination and avoidance and be strong in the face of adversity, much like a runner can choose to run fast up a big, tiring hill.

By confronted our problems and not avoiding them or trudging through them we can solve them faster, learn more, help others and be empowered.

We can also be buoyed, not shaken, by those struggling up the same hill as us. Instead of seeing this as a discouragement or threat, we should see this as a chance to help each other, to understand that no problem affects only one person and to realize that confronting problems, and solving them, is possible.

So next time you come to a hill, on a training run or in life, muster up that little extra you have and show the mountain who's boss and when you reach the top admire the view, even if your legs don't let you forget the lesson.