Perhaps I’ve been struck with a touch of Olympic fever, but have you ever thought how easy it is to run downhill? Every stride is strong and long. The world rushes by and you feel like a super athlete – until the next hill …

Just as ‘what goes up, must come down’ so must every downhill path have an equal and opposite uphill track.

Sometimes life feels like those downhill runs: easy, fast, with the wind in your face and lots of friends willing to run with you. When we hit an upward incline, often the friends that were happy to scoot down can drift off – either digging in and running ahead of us, or lagging behind. It takes deliberate effort to make progress. Your heart has to work harder, you often have to run alone and you might even be tempted to just go home and eat chocolate. (Not that there’s anything wrong with eating chocolate! 🙂 )

The reality is that if you ever want to see the best views or breathe the purest air, you have to go uphill. If you want to get out of a valley, you have to brave the rocky slope of the mountainside (and where I live, there is good opportunity to find a track like that!). Often the only option to sitting in the valley forever is to put on some weather worn joggers and start that upward trudge towards your next destination.

Are you running a hill? Perhaps you have blisters on your toes and you feel like you’re running alone. Remember that for every hill there is a crest and then a downhill stint to enjoy. And the fascinating thing I’ve discovered about running uphill is that the more often you do it, the easier it gets. Then you can take on the mountain!