Hills – in Florida?!?

And only 20 minutes from my home. Who knew?

One of my running goals for the summer was to get out of the neighborhood and find some routes to run that are both more challenging and stimulating than the loops I run every week. When I first started running I wanted to avoid having to drive to another location to run because I was afraid the inconvenience would give me an excuse to stay on the couch. I have moved beyond that stage now and the new challenge is to try to avoid the monotony and boredom of repeatedly running the same route.

I accomplished that this morning. I met up with a running group called the West Volusia Runners and together we tackled an infamously hilly course near Deland, Florida. I certainly found the challenge I was looking for. We had the option of running a 4 or 9 mile route through a beautiful neighborhood. I opted to go for 9 (and ended up doing 8 because I missed a turn). I had originally planned on doing 12 this weekend, but I have no regrets about missing those 4 extra miles. This course kicked my butt!

There were two hills near the end of the run that prove a sadist mapped this route. I confess that the steepest hill bested me and forced me to walk up the last half of the incline. Fortunately I was on my own at that point and no one spotted me walking. I hope no one from WVR is reading this ;-}. I’ll beat that hill next time.

The West Volusia Runners is a friendly and welcoming group. They have a lot of people training for races in the fall and some very experienced runners offering advice. It will make for a great summer of training.