Climbing a mountain

At least that what it feels like to be on the treadmill again. I can still remember week 1 and how hard those runs seemed and how far I've come. But stopping for 2 weeks had me slowly slipping down that mountain. I ran on the treadmill yesterday. I choose a pre-programmed run. It was for 30mins, with a max speed of 4 and a max incline of 6. Sounds easy, huh? Well let me tell you, it most certainly was not, but I made it through the whole program. What I am most proud of is the fact that I did it without holding on to the railings to get me through the tough climbs and I actually ran during the running segments instead of stepping off and letting the program continue. Although I completed the run, it was difficult and I was tired. I thought it was because it was so late, 9:30pm. I was awake for hours after that, it was close to 1:30am before I fell asleep. Needless to say, I was tired cranky and exhausted when I woke up. So today I decided to run when I got home. This time I choose a shorter but more intense program. It was 20 mins, with a max speed of 4 and max incline of 6. I once again was able to complete the program without cheating, but thought I was going to fall over from exhaustion when it was done. My legs were numb and my chest was tight. I think tomorrow I will go back to the "easier" 30 min program. I plan to resume week 7 next week, if all goes as planned. I have decided that running for 10 mins on an incline is harder then running 23 mins on a flat surface. So I should be in good shape to resume. I still don't enjoy running but I know for my own health I need to continue.