500 miles

I remember the first time I ran 6 miles.  I was horribly not prepared for how hot it was.  I thought it was really hard and really, really long.  That made my recent, at the time, decision to run a half marathon seem almost impossible.  Actually, if I am being honest, I thought I had totally lost my mind.   I figured it would be a once and done deal.  The 5K distance was more my thing.  That was almost 3 years ago.

Now I really dislike 5K's.  They are too short and require too much speed.  That is something I am not....speedy.  I have run many more half marathons and I love them.  It is the perfect distance.  It requires dedication, but nothing crazy like the marathon.  The half marathon is like ice cream.  I will always go back for more.  The marathon is like child birth.  After a while I forget the pain and decide to do it again.  Although, my child birthing days are over and so may the marathon running days.

I remember the first time I ran a 100 miles in a month.  I thought that was the biggest accomplishment ever.  Now that is the norm for me and I would not want it any other way.

So, imagine my surprise when I realized last Friday that if I ran 15 miles by Sunday I would have run 500 miles in January, February, and March combined.  I almost fell off my chair.  Seriously?  That is not something I ever thought would happen.  Of course, I had to run that far over the weekend.   500.4 miles in 3 months!

I ran the last 2 miles on Easter morning before church.  I swear the birds were chirping more loudly.  They were also rejoicing!  It was the perfect run to reach a never imagined number.