The shortcut

No, this is not about running tangents. That's legitimate. This is a real shortcut.

The beauty of running is that this is probably the only sport that has a shortcut to success. No doubt the miles will have to be banked in gradully and consistently and I'll like to think I've been diligent in this area. However when time is short, or the mind rebels against a long run, there is a quick way around it all. I run hills.

I've never really liked them but there is a conveniently gradient at the housing estate behind where we live in Spore. I've developed a routine along a stretch that I use now and then. It's a little bit over 300m, gradual at the beginning and in the last 80m or so, it turns into a steep incline. Nothing dramatic or punishing like Kiara but enough. Time is never recorded and it does not matter. I run each interval to the point where I am panting heavily at the top. The first interval is always tough, as is the last. Those in the middle are effectively strides. All in, steep enough to be brutal, building fitness and strength, yet short enough to allow concentration on form.

I did those hills last night. I got home late and was short on time. As I was going up, I started thinking of the circuit that Nisa and I started off with in KL. I remembered them because it was in a housing estate setting that was exactly like what I run on now and it had 2 hills. It really doesn't qualify as a hill, more like a slope, but when we started out running, they felt like hills. We even gave them names because we always struggled up them.

The first was called "Aileen's slope"; because Aileen's parents lived along that slope. Everytime when I struggled up, I would always glanced at their home, wondering if Aileen was in and could see me ambling up the hill. The second was "Please don't take my flowers hill". It got it's name because an owner was trying to develope a little garden outside his house along this hill. This garden was on public land and there a sign imploring those who passed by not to take her flowers.

These are the places where we started our running. The curcuit was short, not more than 1.1k and I remembered I could only do 3 rounds, one of which would be walked. I've come quite a bit since then, shortcuts and all.