The roads near my house are all flat. Since I'm going to be in a race in two weeks that has a very long uphill stretch, I thought it would be good to drive into town where there are some hilly neighborhoods to walk in. The uphill stretches are only about three or four blocks long, so I decided to walk an uphill/downhill loop three times in a row.

Well, in spite of all my previous walking, and in spite of my step aerobics, the first uphill was much more challenging than I'd anticipated. At that point, I had a real mental tug-of-war about whether I really wanted to do all three loops or not. Then I decided that nothing worth having was ever easy, so I made myself do all three loops. Whew!

It's a small victory, but it meant something to me, because I didn't let myself take the easy way out. I did the whole workout, in spite of the difficulty.

Congratulations! That's definitely more than just a "small victory." I'm from the midwest where everything is flat. I moved east and discovered topography. Last summer, some friends invited me along to go hiking, thinking nothing of it, I agreed to go. Well, I was certainly in for a surprise; hiking with hills is VERY different than hiking on flat land. After the first stretch, I told my friends to go on without me and I proceeded to walk back the way I came - straight to the car. I haven't been hiking since. So I'll give you a huge pat on the back for sticking with the whole workout. Good luck with your race!

Hills are very challenging!! I agree this is a BIG NSV!! I live on a mountain, and in order to walk home it's like 15 blocks STRAIGHT uphill.. and if me walking up that is an NSV - yours is definitely! Walking hills really works your butt too!

-Aimee

Thanks, Goodbye Chubby and SwimGirl! I agree, uphill uses a completely different set of muscles than any of my other workouts. I'll have to try to do this more often.

I'll let you know how the race goes.

good for you!

I've just recently dusted off my bike now that the warm weather is here and boy did the hill near my house nearly kill me! I hope I'm able to get up it with limited discomfort soon.

That is a fantastic victory. Congratulations.

Good for you, Margarita! LOL I laughed as where I live it is almost impossible to go anywhere without hills! Sometimes I really have to get my "Seattle legs" going. And where I work we are on top of a huge hill... so no matter which way we go walking, have to climb back up! Even though I am used to it, it IS hard; but I keep reminding myself that I must be burning up a lot more calories this way. And I pretend my feet are animated like this little character here LOL.

Congratulations on doing the hills! I can appreciate it!!!

Margarita, that is a wonderful achievement! One for WANTING to do the hills in the first place, two for NOT GIVING UP and three for BEING ABLE TO DO IT.

We have a few hills (well... some are more 'slopes', but when I was 350+lbs they seemed like MOUNTAINS!) around our house. For many years they really restricted my walking because hubby and I would have to drive somewhere to walk, as I couldn't walk around home. It has only been in the last few months that I have even attempted them. I could actually do them easily then, but I had been too scared to try. I'm still not good with TOO steep a hill, as I just don't really have the strength in my legs, even though I've lost over half my body weight. But I'm working on that.

So I definitely believe that you should be patting yourself on the back for this one!

Take care,

Zelma

From another flatlander-CONGRATS!!!!!-I also have to drive if I want ANY kind of hill (except for the expressway overpass!) They definetly make your workouts harder, but what an accomplishment when you're done! Good for you for preparing for your race by practicing on the hills! (Smarter than me) Great job not quitting, and getting all your circles done. You have earned a terrific NSV!!!