Hill Training in Iowa

On Wednesday, I packed my bags and headed west to Iowa for a long Thanksgiving weekend.  In addition to visiting family, I wanted to accomplish a few other tasks:

1. Run the hills
2. Sleep in every day
3. Not eat my weight in cookies

Task #1: Run the hills
I ran 2 days while I was in Iowa...6 miles each day.  I ran the same route both days and ran it much faster the second day.  When many people think of Iowa, they think of flat, corn, and farms.  However, some cities located along the Mississippi River are very hilly.  I don't run with my camera/phone, but I wish I could have taken a picture of the massive hill I ran up.  Instead, here the elevation chart:

In case you can't tell, that would be a 350 ft+ incline from miles 3 to 4.5.  It was like running up a small mountain.  I live near Chicago, where there are no hills.  Contrary to what many believe, it is actually hard to run down an incline that severe as well. 

Task #2: Sleep in every day.
The only morning I got up early was Sunday (today) so I could pack and get ready to go to brunch with my grandparents.  Otherwise, I got a quality 10 or more hours of sleep every  night.  I also learned that when I was a baby I slept a ton.  Some things never change.

Task #3: Not eat my weight in cookies.
I love my mom's sugar cookies.  I did my best at only eat a few every day.  This is a vast improvement...usually I just eat whatever I want.  I don't know the total amount of cookies consumed, but it was less than in past years which is a major success.

Some quality conversations were also had...and a lot of funny comments were made.  I'll share those tomorrow.  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Do you like to run hills?  This year, I am going to love hills.  In the past, I've always hated them.