The hills

I both love and loathe hills at the same time.

Hills can be so daunting, especially when you're running.

Yesterday, I ran a race set in a super hilly course. Now, I've run this course before, and I anticipated the hills that were in store for me, but there seemed to be more than I remember, and they felt harder than I thought they would.

The feeling you get when you reach the top of a hill is beautiful—I did it! I conquered that one! But the thoughts that can go through your head while you are trying to tackle that hill can be discouraging: I want to walk. I hate this hill. I really want to walk up this one.

There were definitely points in the race when I was going up hills and let my mind play around with the thought of walking, but I knew how disappointed I would be in myself if I actually did so. Hills aren't meant to be walked up—they are made to be attacked and defeated.

This hill was not my BFF.

While some of those hills definitely slowed down my pace, there were also some that I wanted to end so badly that they made me speed up. There was one particular hill that I had completely let slip my mind, and so I was a bit frustrated when I saw it awaiting me, because I knew of the enormous challenge that was ahead. But then I saw my friend Nina at the bottom of the hill, and I got an extra boost of inspiration. She had come all the way out there to cheer in the cold rain, and I surely wasn't going to let her support go to waste by bonking on that hill.

There are so many hills we are going to face in life, and we can't let them get us down or slow us down. They are simply challenges that we have to face and overcome. And when some of those obstacles appear as if they are too much for us to take, I believe God places people like Nina in our lives to help give us those extra bursts that we need to get to the top.

He did that for me again at the end of the race. The course finishes on a levee, but you must scale one last hill before you get on it. My legs were so tired at this point, and I knew I didn't have much left in me, but I would have to give everything that was left in the tank. Then I heard what I had waited all race to hear: my mom's voice. You see, my parents are at every single race. My dad always takes care of me, and I honestly don't know how I would stay calm and function before the race if he weren't there. He's my "race guru," as he calls it. My mom, however, is the loudest person there, which is not how she would normally be described. But, when she cheers at my races, she's usually the only person I hear. So when I heard her voice right before that hill leading up to the levee, I forgot about my pain and attacked that hill with whatever I had left, because I knew my family was waiting for me at the finish line, and I didn't want to keep the Merrill crew waiting too long.

I might not love every hill of races or of life, but I am so thankful that God is there to push me up each one, and I feel blessed when he sends His own to help me get to the top of each. The encouragement from others in our lives truly helps and is truly of Him.

My legs are beyond sore today, and I know that some hills in life will also leave me with some form of after effects, but they are absolutely worth it.

Jesus had one last hill left in life and suffered through it and endured it because of His love for us. The difference is that what was waiting for Him at the top was death—death on a cross for us. If my Savior can defeat a brutal hill in order to be crucified for the sins of the world—sins that I commit every single day—then I surely can battle through these hills that are really like ant mounds in comparison to what he faced.

Hills are going to appear throughout our lives, so go own them.