Return of "the hill"

Last night, I finally made it back to the hill at Brecksville Reservation. It's the bike path, and it's a pretty long uphill. Last summer, I ran the hill a lot during training last year, but I haven't run it since the fall. My excuses for that include:

• running with the HM group
• it's dark early in the winter
• it's too treacherous

Anyhow, I'm back at it. Embarrassingly, I was unable to run the entire. I took a break before the last uphill (right before the steepest part, so I did actually run up the steepest part).

So the route isn't killer, but it's a toughie. Some uphill in mile 1, but mile 2 is all uphill.

Mile splits from last night:

• Mile 1: 10:24
• Mile 2: 11:18
• Mile 3: 9:38
• Mile 4: 9:28

So I've done the route - including the downhill - faster, but I suppose for the first time back, I should be happy. (Except I am remembering the long runs where I incorporated the hill, and it's making me sad - I *should* be in better shape now.)

I lifted weights, including doing squats and lunges, beforehand, so that's part of why I felt so sluggish. I also should have warmed up with a mile or two on the Towpath - that worked out really well last year. Next time!