Do not be afraid.

When I first moved to this neighborhood, I thought there was no way I'd be able to run up all the hills. They are long. And some are steep. And there are many of them. And I was used to running of flat city streets. Not hills.

Then I laced on my sneaks and headed out for a run. I gave it a shot. Sure, it was tough and the hills conspired against me. But, what else was I going to do? Drive to a more ideal (read: flatter) place to run? No way. I'm a head out the door and go for a run type of gal.

So, the first run was tough. The second one was probably tough, too. But then I became tough. I became the runner running up those hills, showing them that they can conspire against me no more!

Now, I love my hills. I consider myself a hill runner. Bring it on, I say.

I tell you this, why? Because that is what running can do for you. It can make you stronger and more equipped to overcome challenges -- faced while running or not. If you stand at the bottom of long, seemingly never ending hill and say, "I'm running to the top of this thing," and then you do it, well, you can pretty much feel confident that you can take that strength and apply it to all other areas of your life.

So, don't be afraid of the hills. Run strong: Maybe that means running slowly, or speeding up to get it over with quickly. Maybe it even means taking a break along the way. Whatever it means, just take on those hills and feel proud when you get to the top.