1000 Words for 1000 Miles

 

The first pin I pinned on Pinterest was the one above.  I pinned it two years ago.  My thought was, WOW wouldn’t that be awesome to say I ran 1000 miles in a year?!  Then it became an after thought.

Until this past January.  I was training for the Goofy Race, a half and a full marathon back to back, and I was logging some major miles.  How many miles a week would I have to run to make 1000 miles?  When I figured it out it came to 20.8 miles a week, or around 83 miles a month.  Between the Goofy race, and my training, January was a shoo-in.  With no other goals on the horizon for 2014 my new goal of 1000 miles in a year was born.

I kept my goal a secret.  There were only four people who were let in on this secret.  I didn’t want to feel pressure from other people.  I am hard enough on myself, I didn’t want others pushing me to get out there. 

During the year I gave up on my goal a total of three times.  Life got in the way.  Being a mom got in the way.  Trying to balance life got in the way.  Wanting to see my husband got in the way.  But at the end of the month I would plug in my mileage and somehow I was either right on, or just a few miles off, renewing my hopes each time. 

I took off three weeks total out of the entire year.  Two weeks when I had morning all day pregnancy sickness, and one during my birthday week, as life just got in the way, with parent teacher conferences, work requirements, and mommy duties. 

I ran only 8 of my 1000 miles on the dreadmill. 

I ran not pregnant, to get pregnant, and up to 7 months pregnant. 

I ran every mile with the blessing of my TWO doctors.

I ran in the cold, the rain, the sun, the dark, the humidity, the baking heat, and the perfect temperature of 70 degrees with no humidity.

I ran in the mornings, in the afternoons, and the late evenings.

I ran in between school and after school meetings.  I would “shower” with a baby wipe in the school bathroom, put back on my school clothes, and show up for PTA meetings.  I hope I didn’t stink. 

I ran after a long day of work., sometimes in the dark.

I ran after an entire day being a “single” mommy.

I pushed a jogging stroller, with a 26 lb babe, for over 500 of my 1000 miles. 

I pushed myself on vacations, at home, and when I really, really, really didn’t want to get out and do anything.

I ran when I wanted to, and when I thought I was so tired I wouldn’t make it a mile. 

I ran with blisters, tired muscles, but never an injury.

I ran most of my miles alone.

I ran around my house, around my work, on the trail. 

I ran to meet friends, to run errands, and I would run somewhere that Jacob would  drive to meet me with Cade, and we would eat, shop, or do activities as a family. 

I ran 112 miles with a broken toe.  The toe is still not completely healed, but I only counted the miles in the 6 weeks the doctor said it would take to heal.  The toe still doesn’t bend. 

This goal was not an easy one.  I struggled towards the end, be it just being tired of logging miles, or the extra pounds I have been carrying, it was a struggle the last two months. Most of November and all of December I had to average 25 miles a week.  It was grueling, in the dark, in the cold, being tired.  The second week of November Jacob said to me “Don’t worry, you can always start this goal again next year.”  And that was my new motivation.   A whole nother year with this goal hanging over my head?!  I couldn’t imagine having to do this all over again.  I had 6 weeks left.  I wasn’t going to give up. 

My runs became more of a waddle than a run.  Baby Dos grew much faster and bigger than Cade, causing me to lose my lungs capacity quicker than I did with Cade. 

I learned a few things about myself in these past 1000 miles.  I gave up my focus on time, and focused on distance.  Something foreign to my brain at the start of this year.  When I started running in 2008 I had small goals, all of them related to distance.  Then I got cocky with myself.  Distance became relative.  I could run as far as I wanted, and not feel like I was going to die the next day.  My new thoughts became centered around personal bests (PRs) for every distance I ran.  I became faster than I had ever been.  But this goal, had nothing to do with time.  I had to learn it didn’t matter how fast I ran, it mattered how far I ran. 

I don’t think this goal could have come at a better time.  I was so focused on the time, I had lost sight of why I had started running.  I run because I can.  There have been two times in my life when my health was in such a state I could not imagine running.  I run now, and continue to run because I can.  This goal helped me recenter my thoughts about running.  I am passionate about it again. 

So there we have it.  1000 words for 1000 miles.  It has been one heck of a journey, and boy am I glad I am done.  Completing this goal ended with no pomps.  No circumstance.  No medal.  Just me knocking another goal off my bucket list.  

2014 Races

1 Full Marathon

2 Half Marathons

1 15k (9.3 miles)

1 10k (6.2 miles)