When I began running, I would plan my route ahead of time, I would meticulously look out for where there was an incline, or which hills I remembered driving up in my local area, and I would avoid them. I was focused on getting the fastest 5km time I could, and in order to do that, I had to run the flattest route possible. Quite simply, I couldn’t run up hills. So I would avoid them. 

One day, I joined my sister on a run, and seemingly she didn’t plan as well as I did (so I thought at the time), because we came across a hill… But I just about managed it! I walked for parts of it, and all but keeled over by the top of it, but I almost managed it!
A few years later, running had become part of my routine and I signed up for my third marathon! During training (back to flat roads only at this point…) I had a horrible realisation that it wasn’t advertised as having a flat route… which meant I was going to have to run up hills. 

I thought about pulling out of the marathon, but then decided I didn’t want to miss out on doing something I was passionate about and excited about, because of a few hills. So I thought about how I approached other things in my life before, about how I’d learnt to do other things. Couldn’t I learn to run up a hill, just like I’d learnt other things?
I realised the only way I’d be able to do it, was if I did it. It sounds simple; but this was a huge learning for me: If you want to learn to do something and get to a finish line, you have to start.

So I changed my running route to include a 1km hill near to where I lived. The first time, like the time I’d accidentally stumbled across a hill with my sister, I couldn’t run the whole hill without stopping to walk. But I ran that route every week, and gradually, I managed to run more of the hill. Until eventually, I was able to run the whole hill without stopping, and without having to stop at the top either! 

I learnt that by doing this one thing I’d initially found impossible, every week, (even though I wasn’t doing it perfectly), I was eventually able to do it, and it eventually became easy! 

This same logic can apply to any aspect of your life, any new skill or thing you want to learn. Any goal you want to achieve. Consistency is the key. I’d heard people say this before, but I’d never truly seen the impact of it, and never understood the true reason behind that saying. But this experience gave me a real understanding of how impactful consistency truly is.