Did I mention there are a lot of hills where I live?!
I like to call this hill in particular ‘Murder Hill’ because I want to murder myself when I run it!!!! lol. ;) Today I went up this hill and one of equal steepness right in a row. It was brutal…but fun. Yes, I said fun! I love hill running.
I played Sean Kingston’s ‘Somebody call 9-1-1-Fire burning’ song and it put a little grin on my face.
I love living near such beautiful countryside! I wouldn’t trade this for the city any day.

I took the last two days off exercise because one of the muscles near my shin was sore. I think the two days off really did the trick because I felt so strong on today’s run! I felt amazing and like nothing could stop me. I maintained about a 9:30-:10 min/mile pace while tackling the hills.
The run:
Distance: 8 miles
Duration: 1 hour 17 mins.
Avg HR: 156 bpm
Max HR: 171 bpm
Max pace: 7:46 min/mile
Avg pace: 9:43 min/mile
I stopped and walked about 6 times for about 30-60 seconds each time. I will be doing a post on the Galloway method soon, as I have been looking into it more and more.
It was such a great run! I ran by streams, farms, open fields. C’est la vie.
Once home, I immediately (and I mean immediately) mixed up a protein swamp water. In the mix: 1 serving Amazing Grass Pom-Mango Infusion and water. This gave me a quick hit of 10 grams of protein to tie me over until I ate.

It also cooled my forehead!

I really need to get back into my morning workouts. After this run I felt so energized, happy, and ready to work. Since I started to work from home I put off my workouts until the late afternoon, but today made me remember how energized a great workout makes me feel all day. When I was commuting and in the workplace, I used to get up at 6 and workout first thing. It also gets it out of the way!
My power snack post-run:
Veggie Pizza Crackers:
Ingredients:
- Mary’s Crackers
- 1/2 avocado
- 3 T hummus
- Organic tomato sauce
This is officially my new favourite snack!
I had such a productive day today and was on the phone most of it doing business calls. Typically, I hate being on the phone but the people I were dealing with just happened to be super sweet as pie today! Love that!
- Contacted Lundberg in US RE: bulk brown rice syrup (amazing sales rep named Tom I talked to)
- Placed bulk Organic Brown Rice Syrup order with co-op (I’m buying 55 lb pails at a time!)
- Started my RST Tax Return (due Sunday)
- Followed up on KA appliances- should be shipping out tomorrow :)
- Sent out some invoices
- Renewed Costco membership
- Worked on Eric’s anniversary gift
On tonight’s agenda: Eric is bringing home a second fridge (a friend of my BIL is giving it to us for free!). Here’s to more storage space! I also need to complete my tax return.
Have a good one!

Do you live in the country or the city? Big city…small city? Do tell! :D
I’ve lived everywhere. And I mean everywhere. I have moved about 15 times in my life. I lived in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New Brunswick, Ontario and small and large cities. I lived in Toronto for 2 years and lived on one of the longest streets in the world (Yonge Street). Talk about big city girl!
mmm, those crackers look great!
your run looks like our running here! there are NO completely flat roads at all. I love it, but it does always make running even more of a challenge. my house is actually in a tiny, tiny town – we don’t even have a stoplight! but I work in a bigger town.
KILLER HILL! I live in a small town near Charlotte, NC. So cool that you used to live in NC!
wow, that hill makes me want to cry just looking at it! I’m sort of a novice runner, so I’m taking baby steps LoL. Your pizza snacks look super yummy, love all the ingredients, I’ll definitely have to give those a try!
What a greaaaatttt idea for Mary’s Cracks! Raw pizza snacks. What a keeper, thanks for the idea!
Hill running..fun joy oh joy. Not really, but I do them. The scenery is beautiful where you live.
P.S. if you’re into yoga, do some downward dogs after all those hills to counteract all the calf and hammy tightening you get from hills.
Those pizza bites look delicious!
– Louise
I was born in a small (but now it’s bigger) country town. Moved to the city for university, then moved countries and now live in a compact city but one of the major US ones. Kind of get the best of both worlds – a walkable (and runner friendly) city with heaps to do. The area I live does lack the hills that I need, but I can take public transport to another neighbourhood where there are and workout there. Runners are everywhere and it’s nice to have that kind of unspoken camaraderie.
That hill reminds me of a couple in hometown – one was so steep that it was dreaded by all high school students because inevitably the traffic authority would make you do a hill start as part of your driving test – eek! :)
I live in Boston, great city, but it does get too noisy for me sometimes! Your countryside looks gorgeous!
I love hill running too! I was going strong then got sick earlier this week, and I miss it.
I just moved from the city (Boston) to the country (northwestern PA) about a week ago. What a change! It is beautiful here, but just not the same. No Starbucks for 30 miles, what did I get myself into?
Those crackers look delish, I can’t get enough avocado lately!
I follow the Running Room’s 10:1 philosophy and its fantastic! They say on average you only lost about 30 second per KM running 10:1’s as opposed to someone who runs straight. I feel SOOOO much more rested doing 10:1’s… and on particularly hard runs, its easy to concentrate on 10 mins instead of the distance remaining!
That is one HA-UGE hil!
Currently living in NYC but a country girl at heart!! We are moving back upstate once I graduate next spring. Those pics remind me of home!!! I miss running on roads like that! C’est la vie — c’est vrai! :-)
That does look like a murderous hill!!!
I used to live in the country and now live in the city (Minneapolis). I love the city, but sometimes do miss the country, especially for quiet runs!
That snack looks fantastically yummy!! That hill does look brutal! You ROCK girl for making it up there! I also love hill running :-) Just powering up the hill – so empowering once you reach the top! And then you have downhill to look forward to. Killer legs from hill running don’t hurt either ;-)
I live in a smaller town (about 45,000 pop.), with some fields, but pretty urbanized. I mostly run around neighborhoods.
the post run snack looks so good! Love the combination of stuff you have on the crackers!
I’m def a big city girl! I had major cultural shock when I moved to Halifax (Nova Scotia) for school and learnt that shops closed around 8pm, and almost nothing is open on Sundays!! But I’ve alwayas wanted to live close to the countryside…the space looks so peaceful, green and beautiful…
Big city girl here! Never lived anywhere else :)
I live in a medium-sized city with lots of lovely countryside nearby :-)
aka Milwaukee, Wisconsin! My apartment is about 5 minutes from Downtown, but we have a large green field next door and Lake Michigan about 1 mile East. It’s the combined city / countryside setting that keeps things fresh!
Holy hills! I wish I had hills here, its the flat land here in Houston, Texas. :)
What a great snack combo.
ooo those pizza crackers look amazing!
i live in the city, but its a country city … omaha, ne. Lol.
-muffy
OK, I love you for those pizza crackers! I am obsessed with Mary’s Crackers but seem to be stuck in a ‘eat them with just hummus’ rut. Since I love avocado and tomato sauce, this is jut a fantastic recipe. Yay! Thanks, Angela!!
PS: Those scenes from your run made me miss Canada.
Great hill photo! I have them all around me too; it makes it hard to follow a program where you have to hit certain paces, because you know they weren’t figuring in all those hills.
I’m looking forward to seeing your Galloway method post. My wife swears by those walk breaks and has had good success with it.