Flat flat flat. Texas is a unique part of the world where you could make a strong argument that the world may actually be flat. Although it has some amazing mountains in certain regions, for some areas you will feel that after traveling for hours it seems as if you are still in the same spot.

When it comes to running in Texas, many of us are thrilled that there is an abundance of flat surfaces. I, for one, have been known to not mind if a hill or two were to not make it into my usual running route. And on occasion, I may even find routes that highlight other beautiful running features, such as zero elevation gain.

For others, the lack of elevation leaves a craving in their soul for desiring more out of a run. I understand suffering better than most due to growing up with three brothers (my mother is the patron saint of too many boys), but some runners want this suffering to truly leave them feeling destroyed after runs. They also say running hills helps with strength and speed work but who knows. This group of people who I am referring to is a group I don’t often overlap with. They are more commonly known as fast runners.

There are a few tricks to find local hill workouts in your area. Only do this if, for some reason, you want running to feel harder than it already is.

• Start exploring your area on your own two feet
  • One of my favorite ways to first find a local hill is to just start running and biking around. You can start doing loops around your neighborhood, looking off to the distance, or picking a new area you have never been before. Often times a hill may pop up. Will it be a mountainous, beautiful trail overlooking a heavenly looking slice of nature? Probably not. It may just overlook weeds and a pothole but if you are wanting to gain some elevation, it checks the box.
• Chat with other runners
  • See where your local runners are getting their workouts in by meeting them out and about or chatting with people at running clubs. If there is a running store next to you, that is a fantastic resource for utilizing the employees knowledge for the local area. And if you don’t want to do hills, you may get even more recommended routes away from them!
• Online Social Media and Internet Maps
  • Sometimes you may find a social media source such as Strava that lists different routes in the area and it will highlight elevation within a route. You can also use maps online to deep dive into your area to see if there looks to be any large green space areas that may have some rolling hills.
• Treadmill, boost it up
  • You may have a treadmill at home, at your gym, or you can find one at your neighbors house if you feel confident sneaking in. A scary button exists on one side that increases speed and an even scarier one on the other side that increases the incline. Just start boosting that button up and pretty quickly you can feel that burning in the calves.
• When it doubt, parking garage it out
  • A parking garage can serve as the emergency human-made hill for elevation training. You can either go up and down the stairwell if you eat nails for breakfast or do the longer loop one floor at a time. You get the opportunity to be in the shade too which for a Redhead is a big win. Lastly, you may get stopped by security staff so if you push yourself really hard during a workout, they may not bother to question you if you have foam coming out your mouth or something averse like that.

Still not finding anything? Well, two ways to take it. You could move or you could accept that you were given a blessing in life not to have hills as a part of your running. Honestly, the latter is not too bad of an outlook!

After reading this, I think I am going to celebrate by finding a local hill, waving from a distance, and telling myself “Next time!” They sure can be a fun workout (for some) and if you find yourself in that category, I will applaud you.

How about you? Where did you find that secret hill in your area?