Necessary Evil

You've heard me talk about my shear hatred of hard, steep hills. Well, friends, I have embraced them as the necessary evil in my training. I have been reading about people who have run the St. George Marathon in previous years. There are three things I have learned. It's going to be hot. The altitude at the beginning will not be fun for this asthma girl, and there are hills! Seven miles down a canyon, five miles up Veyo, then give or take 14 miles of more downhills.
The best place that I've found hills are by my parents' house. The hill climbs 230 ft within 1 mile. Do that 3 times and the legs are screaming expletives too. Today, I only had to run up, down, then up again. Pace? Turtles were passing me up. But I kept on going. I admit I walked a couple times. I figure that this is my first time. By the time I'm done, I should be able to do much better than a 14+ min. pace. I was on my way up. I had just passed my parents' street, thinking I had a mile left. My runkeeper spoke up and said "3.02 miles." Whahoo! I stopped right there and ran back down that short distance to mom and dad's. 4 miles next week.
As I was running, I realized why hill training is necessary. They make your legs stronger and faster. They make my body stronger and leaner. (At least, I hope so.) Mentally, you have to push your body hard, keeping your body in proper form. Uphills are hard, but downhill can be just as hard on your body. I have to make sure I don't slip on the gravel rocks and go sliding.
So, here's to the necessary evils of training.