I went out to the Hill of Life today.
The Hill of Life, for those of you unfamiliar with her, is a 3/4 mile(??) long hill in the Barton Creek Greenbelt in Austin. It’s “affectionately” known in some circles as simply “HOL.” It’s probably the most challenging hill in Austin. Not just because of how steep it is, but also because it’s rocky and the terrain is very uneven.
HOL kicked my a… behind.
I’m pretty sure that a lot of it was due to the fact that it was 105 degrees out, but there could have been other factors.
I think that one of these factors is that I am seriously out of shape. I went out there, because I wanted to get a feel for just how out of shape I am and to face a challenge. Hill of Life did not disappoint in providing me with a worthwhile challenge. I think that anytime that you start to think that you’re in good shape and want a fitness test, all you have to do is go out to HOL and do some repeats. I didn’t do any repeats, but I now know just how far out of shape I am.
Another big factor, is my bigness. What I mean by that is my weight. I think that if I were not as heavy as I am, I would not have had as hard a time running out there. I think that a lower weight would help in lots of other things, but for this event, I think the weight was a factor in how fast I could go, specially going up the hill.
