Super Bowl Sunday

Yesterday was an exciting and nostalgic day for me. I couldn't help but smile and reflect...

Last Super Bowl Sunday I headed out for a 4 mile run with 3 of my friends. The guys were watching the game and we thought it would be fun to go for a run.

4 miles.

I had started running in January and was doing the Couch to 5K program. I loved it and was really seeing progress. On week two of the program, I finished up my session and out of complete curiosity I decided I would try to run an entire mile straight. No walking. I had no idea if I could do it, but I decided to push on and see if I was capable.

To my surprise, it felt great and I continued to do that extra mile with each session.

But, 1 mile was all that I had done straight through.

I had no idea if I could do 4. Nor did Mandi. But, our other friends told us that we could walk if we needed to. There was no pressure.

As we ran along, there were a couple of times I had to remind myself that it wasn't going to kill me. Most the time though, I was just excited to be running with friends and as the miles went by the excitement grew.

We talked about running. About training for the Girlfriend's 1/2 (2 of the friends I was running with were my inspiration to run the 1/2 in the 1st place) I had all sorts of questions about what to eat before long runs? And after long runs? What to drink? What to wear?

At one point we did walk. A quick breath and about 200 feet later we were off again.

When we finished up the 4 I could not get over the fact that we had pretty much ran 4 miles non-stop!

Amazed and encouraged I headed out to complete 4 the next weekend as well. When I was done, I couldn't wait to tell Cory that I had actually done it! He, of course, said, "I knew you could!"

4 miles and it was huge!

Yesterday, I headed out for a deep breath. My first outside run in 2 weeks. My first somewhat long run out my back door on the hills. My only game plan was to run 4-6 miles. Nothing super ambitious, but something to celebrate the day.

It was one of those runs where I'm sure I looked like a complete goofball. Where the smile didn't leave my face. Where the miles went by way too fast. I didn't want it to end but knew I didn't have a lot of extra time. I had said I would be home in 40 minutes to an hour.

But, when mile 3 came, I just couldn't turn around. I just couldn't. I went another 1/2 mile and finally headed back home.

The hills felt glorious. The fresh air even better. The beauty of God's creation layed out before me. I was soaring.

I glanced at my watch during my last mile and a 10:26 mile stared me in the face. While I felt that I hadn't been pushing it, I definitely felt faster than that. So, I picked it up a bit. Then, a bit more...

Mile 1 - 9:16
Mile 2 - 9:07
Mile 3 - 9:10
Mile 4 - 8:58
Mile 5 - 9:05
Mile 6 - 9:12
Mile 7 - 8:42

An amazing 7 miles that left me with a smile on my face yesterday and sore muscles today! Thankful for a day to look back on where the last year has brought me. Smiling about the fact that a year ago I thought I was wanting to run a 1/2 and thinking that the challenge of running one would be enough. Never thinking I would love running like I do. Never thinking I would ever view the 1/2 distance as something incredibly doable and not as challenging as I thought. And never did I think that I would ever gear up to run a marathon. Ever!