2013 miles in 2013

at the beginning of the year, I made a goal to run 1500 miles. I ran 1000 last year in 6 months, I figured, 1500 would be easy. at some point, early in the year, I thought it would be fun to see if I could do 2013 miles in 2013. I did the math, I mapped out the pace and got moving. this goal was a lot harder than I thought it would be!

to say the least, I spent a LOT of time at the gym this year. at least an hour a night on average. on he way, I met some new friends, and enjoyed running next to them and talking with them and their lives. running next to someone makes the time go much faster. I also burned off a lot of stress- there were nights when I came into the gym stressed and frustrated, and at the end of my run, I was completely distracted from my worries.there were also many, many nights when I could not wait to get the run over with, and at the same time, there were so many times when I stepped onto the treadmill, and I could almost feel my whole body smiling back at me as it stepped back into the routine of breathing, striding and sweating. speaking of sweating, when I run, I get soaked. its embarrassing. I bring towels and headband and even a clip on fan, but its unavoidable.

this year I had to replace my iPod at least once, maybe twice. I had to replace my shoes at least once, maybe twice. I lost several toe nails. that was also really gross. but the worst thing that happened while running this year was that I actually broke my hip while running. I thought it was a sore muscle or maybe a strain. I knew it was an injury somewhere in my hip or backside, I couldn't really tell. I thought it would just go away. I actually kept on running through it. there were several days where I limped all day, and then ran at night! I had discovered that I could run half marathons on the treadmill in 90 minutes- I thought that was so cool- so I just did it every night for weeks. and then there was a night when I almost collapsed. I couldn't run a step- I could barely walk a step. I eventually went to the doctor to have it looked at. my doctor was actually a former olympian which was pretty cool. we did an x-ray and an MRI (which was fairly freaky) and he found a small stress fracture in my ischial bone.

(by the way, this is not a photo of me!)

he kept asking, "did you fall?" nope. I just ran too much. I took a few weeks off and then started really slow, and before long, I was back in action.

I had a lot of time to make up and so for the last few months, I have been on the treadmill 90 minutes a night, but at a slower pace. last wednesday night, I did it!

 

I ran 2013 miles in 2013! I was relieved that I could have teared up right there in the gym. I found a few people online who also had the goal and shared it with them and thanked them for their encouragement. the next day, Jane woke me up with my own trophy- I love it!

 

 



now I'm taking a few weeks off, and then on January 1, I'm going for 2014 miles in 2014! hopefully this time there will be no MRIs to go with it!

God is love.
-rev-rob