Last weekend’s long run was a hilly 12 miles at an easy pace. Even though we live on the eastern plains of Colorado there are definitely hills to be found. Most however, are on the back dirt roads (win, win). I thought I would challenge myself beyond my normally hilly route and try one of the back roads that I knew was nothing but a collage of ups and downs. Eight miles in and I was re-thinking my over zealous strategy, but stuck to my guns none the less.
Preparing for races includes not just the running itself, it also includes resting, good nutrition, and the mental training and knowledge that you can overcome any obstacle come race day based on past training runs and confidence in your abilities. When you can do it in training, you can conceptually do it on race day. Knowing that I’ve run in the heat and survived, or in bitter cold temps and have kept my legs moving, run into the gustiest of headwinds, or through the sheer exhaustion of a long training run; once I’ve pushed myself through it I have undoubtedly proven to myself that I am indeed capable of doing it again.
Toward the end of last weekend’s long run, though exhausted from the extremely hilly route, I felt victorious…literally. As I rounded the corner to head back home I looked at the sign that belonged to the road whose hills I owned that morning. Old Victory Road is its name. Fitting. I smiled to myself, waved goodbye until next time, and told myself come Boston in April, Heartbreak Hill will be my bitch.
Achieve your victory.
mindfirerunner 
Pushing yourself during training runs does build confidence as well as fitness. Hill training always pays off for me on race day. If a race is all flat, I feel like I do not have a competitive advantage.
Congrats on the BQ. Is this your first Boston?
Thank you! Yes, this is the first Boston. And you? I’m collecting all of the feedback from Boston runners I can get pre-race day.
I’ve run Boston five times, always on an invitational number. So I’ve never run a qualifying time.
How many marathons have you run? In many ways it’s like any other marathon except for the history and Heart Break Hill. Heart Break is really a series of hills late in the race, but there are others before it.
I posted a 2012 race recap which may be of interest to you.
Achieve your victory….I might add that to my list of running mantras!