Love it or avoid it, running hills is simply great conditioning. After exerting yourself to climb hills, running in the flats will feel easy. Once you begin tackling hills, they will be less intimidating.

Find a hill in your area, and use map my run to figure out the percentage of the grade by clicking on the "show elevation" button. Find a hill with a medium grade of about five to six percent.

• Warm up at an easy jog for five minutes, then pick up the pace and keep running for five more. Use this time to wend your way to your designated hill.
• Maintain your comfortable running pace, and climb the hill for 30 seconds. Slowly jog or walk to starting point and repeat four more times. On the last two reps, pick up your pace for the last 15 seconds.
• Now run uphill, maintaining your moderate running pace for three 60-second runs. Slowly jog or walk back to your starting point.
• Run fast for 15 seconds uphill twice, slowly jogging or walking to return to your starting point.
• Cool down with 10 minutes of easy running.

Afterward, be sure to stretch your calves, shin muscles, quads, hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors. Oh, and if you like running, join my RunningSugar to meet like minded sugar users.