What goes up, must come down

I've mentioned "the hill" or "my hill" that I like to walk with the dogs. The one that I tally as part of my monthly stats. I'm sure I've posted it before, but this is the profile starting at my house to the top of the hill and then back down. It's a decent work out for just one mile out and then back for 2 miles total.

There was a time when I ran this hill regularly, but since I walk it so frequently now, I've switched to other run routes to mix things up.

Earlier this month, I decided to run up the hill one morning because I didn't have much time and I figured it would be a good work out for a short run. Holy smokes, it was tough! I had to stop twice to walk. This morning, I was short on time again, so I opted to run up the hill again. Still tough and had to take walk breaks.

As you would expect, my split paces by half mile look something like this. That one slow segment represents the trip up the hill, and the fast segment is the steep part coming back down. The first and last half miles are relatively flat and end up being roughly the same as each other.

I have one main fitness goal for the remainder of the year and involves me and this hill. I want to be able to run to the top without stopping. And I assume that when this happens, that slow half mile up the hill will be faster and my overall time from beginning to end will decrease.

It's a personal challenge, just me against the hill. I hope the hill is ready, because it's on!

Do you have any fitness goals for the remainder of the year? If so, what are they?