Inching towards a very hilly 26.2

This week, I finally pushed my mileage above 30 miles per week for the first time in 2012.

For my long run, I headed out to join H for a repeat of the hilly Sand Hill/Alpine loop with some additional out and back hills tacked on for good measure.

8 minutes faster than last time, overall, from beginning to end, including all stops and walking.  (Essentially, I kept roughly the same average pace as last time, but was actually faster in the running portions due to adding a bit more walking, plus I eliminated one of the stops/rests I took last time to buy beverages and cool off).

The first 4 miles (with some of the steepest hills) were noticeably easier than last time.  Also, I was able to hang with H (who's in *much* better shape than me) 'til 11 miles instead of 8, so I counted that as an improvement as well.

There's about 1300 ft of ascent and 1300 ft of descent on this loop.  So it's decent hill training and I'll definitely return to it a few more times for the benefits it offers.  But, when I look at the Equinox Marathon Profile, it becomes very apparent to me that I need to find some bigger hills if I don't want to die of quad pain on the day of the race...

Wish me luck...

P.S. yes, I realize my last blog post ranted about work-out regimes as an annoying default topic of conversation for women in my social cohort, and then I promptly posted about my running life.  

For clarity, I am more than happy to talk about working out for its own sake as a small subset of a general social conversation.  I really enjoy learning about what different people do to treat their bodies to some physical stress and strain in exchange for all of the myriad benefits.

I just really get uncomfortable when what I thought was a fact-based conversation around someone's work-out regime evolves into a weird competition, or judgment-laden topic, or, my least favorite, an entry into the Bermuda triangle conversation storm around cellulite, fat, size, and body image issues.  

Why is it that many women (and some men) can't live and let live when it comes to topics of nutrition, working out, etc?  I just don't understand why the reality that what works for one person may not work for everyone else is so hard to comprehend and accept.