Last week, when a very sweaty me stopped to take a picture right before I hit the Newton hills. That’s the ‘Entering Newton’ sign over my right shoulder.

(Sunday Paper, Year VI, Issue 30)

I’m not going to lie to you:

The hills in Newton have gotten in my head.

Whenever I wondered if I could possibly run the Boston Marathon I always worried about the hills and when it looked like I wouldn’t be checking this item off my bucket list that was the consolation:

At least I don’t have to run those hills.

I don’t like running one hill within a mile of my home…let alone multiple hills 20 miles or so into a run.

But here I am, running the Boston Marathon and needing to tackle the Heartbreak Hills.

And I think about it constantly.

First of all, I know I am totally playing into that stereotype of that guy who runs a marathon and has to constantly talk about it and tell everyone about it.

But, for one thing it’s good writing fodder, and for another, this is a big deal. So I’m going to talk about it. I apologize.

Secondly, I’m not even sure what encompasses the Newton Hills. There’s a really big incline over I-95 leading to Newton-Wellesley Hospital that I don’t think qualifies as a “Heartbreak Hill” but I’m here to tell you if it’s not one of those hills it certainly should be.

After that there’s a hill that leads up to the Brae Burn golf club, then a smaller hill (in my head I call it ‘baby hill’ when I run it), and then two more. (I haven’t named those two yet.)

And I don’t know if collectively they are the heartbreak hills or if the last one is the heartbreak hill because you think you’re done and there it is or what. That’s why I sometimes say the ‘hills of Newton’ or sometimes ‘Heartbreak Hills’ or sometimes just ‘Heartbreak Hill’ singular. Seems like a little gray area.

But nevertheless, this is about 4 hilly miles approaching the final five miles of the Boston Marathon course. And I’ve been trying to figure out the best approach to being ready to tackle them.

For the past few weeks I was trying to make it a point to do them each week - figuring that if I could destroy them in practice I would be able to handle them 20 miles into the marathon on Marathon Monday.

But last week I realized - oh, I don’t think my body can handle these hills every single week.

This week the team run was at the beginning of the course - from Framingham to Hopkinton and back - so I took a week away from the hills. Maybe I’ll take another week off next week. (Side note: Running west from Framingham to Hopkinton there is a large hill leading up to the starting line. Apparently it’s steeper than any of the Newton hills.)

It’s not a bad strategy - I think the more familiarity I have with every inch of the course will help me. And I’m becoming quite familiar with these hills.

But recovery is important. (That’s what my doctor stressed to me. He wasn’t discouraging about me running the race, but he really stressed recovery.)

Last week, I mentioned in last week’s post, was a hard week. I think I started out too fast, I was kind of a mess by the time I hit the hills. But I made it through.

The big thing I’m discovering about the hills is that my form matters - I will hurt myself if I mess up my mechanics. I also am realizing that the weight workouts I do during the week make a huge difference. They are making my legs stronger and building the parts of my body that generate running power - and I realize that most when I’m running the hills.

So even though I don’t always love the early morning weights on Tuesday and Thursday, it helps to think about the hills when I do them and know what the goal is for these workouts.

A few weeks ago I parked my car by BC, then ran out to Newton-Wellesley and back in order to tackle the hills. That route covers all of the hills going one way and then the other. After the last hill coming back, in the direction of the marathon, there’s a big downhill past BC and down to the reservoir. I did that downhill to tack on another mile so I could complete my 11 to 11.5-mile run on the way back. But the whole way down I was thinking, “Oof. I don’t look forward to running up this hill on the way back to my car.”

Running back up that hill was torture.

I think part of that was mental - why am I struggling up this hill when it’s not even part of the marathon?!

So I made a deal with myself - I’m never running up that BC hill again. (in case I lost you there, it’s not part of the marathon. We only have to run down that hill in the marathon.)

And maybe after October 11th I’ll never run up the rest of the Newton Hills again.

Or, who knows, maybe by then they’ll be easy for me.

Notes

*Remember if you care to support my run - and by doing so, supporting the Framingham History Center - you can add to the total at this link. Thank you!

*You can also continue to follow the updates on the Facebook page by liking that here or even on Twitter by following me there at this link.

*I treated myself to some Boston Marathon merch this week. I got a 125th Boston Marathon t-shirt to run in that will also serve as a nice reminder of the 2021 race, and I got “RUN BOS” shorts, both from Marathon Sports. It occurred to me after I bought them that I probably get some race swag when I get my bib in October, so I’m going to cool it with buying anything now. But I really like this shirt and shorts so I’m glad I bought them. It’s nice to reward myself for all the miles every once in a while.

*Update on the other purchases: The Apple Watch has been great. The water backpack was a little better this week than last but the straps were tied very high on my chest for the 13-mile run on Saturday. Didn’t love that. I need to figure that out. But I like that I can just throw my phone in there and let the Watch run the Strava app and my hands are empty for a run. And the water. I also like the water.

*The Hopkinton hill was tough, but I still liked it better than the BC one. Maybe it’s just the BU in me.