Stupid Freaking Hills!

Okay, all you dailymilers who complain about not being able to find a decent hill--take some of mine! I can't find a decent flat spot! The only way to run a course without hills in it is to take out some dynamite and blast them level first. Come visit me sometime. I may not be ready to run them with you, but I can introduce you to some hills that will kick. your. ASS! I don't care who you are! Anybody out there remember the Mercedes (I think) commercial from a year or so ago, the one where they're trying to impress you with the degree of grade their SUV will climb? Yeah. I saw that commercial and thought Are you kidding me? When you wanna test your pansy rich-man's SUV on some REAL hills--come to rural Missouri! I seriously have lived in homes with steeper driveways than that little lab-created incline! Anyway, forgive me; I seem to be a little off-topic, lol. I did my run in a new area this evening, a neighboring (? lol ?) town while waiting for my son to get out of his Boy Scout meeting. I also (can you tell?) spent a fair portion of the workout swearing at hills! ~sigh~ C25K w7d1. Aside from the hills, this is nothing I haven't done before (albeit only once), but today it just seemed rough. I don't think I was well-enough hydrated, I didn't get enough sleep, and I didn't pay enough attention to what I ate today (which didn't improve with my discovery of Creamsicle Oreos at the store afterward). Ah, well. Tomorrow is another day. The loop I did tonight was, by happy accident, almost a perfect 5K. I will not be running all of it until I am MUCH better at this! In those 25 minutes of running, I only manage to do about 1 3/4 miles. :-( Ugh. I start off with a respectable pace, but I just can't hold on to it! I can tell I'm improving (even though my times don't seem to show it), but it's a little discouraging. But today's c25k 30 minutes was only a hundredth of a mile less than the last one I did, and when I take into account that that one was on a flatter course, without the 1-minute walk break I took today. . . I have to figure that if conditions had been the same, I'd have improved instead. My cooldown walk (the remaining 1.17 miles) was SUPER slow! I couldn't believe how slowly I was shuffling along. I can feel the effects of my recent hill workouts; I may curse the hills, but I feel stronger climbing them than before! And I feel like my mechanics have improved. I'm remembering to use the hips and upper legs more, rather than relying so heavily on the calves. Not that my calves aren't still working hard of course. They still despise me and think I'm a cruel beast, lol. I someimes wonder if I should be icing them. ??? Also, I think it's taking longer before I qualify as truly miserable, so things are looking up! :-) I just have to keep reminding myself that while I may be slow, I am currently running nearly twice the distance I ever have before in my life. And that, dear friends, is a victory worth celebrating!