I Ran 7 Miles!

As far as, "Things I've Never Done Before Today" goes, running 7 miles is a big one for me. I started running about 2 and a half years ago, two minutes at a time. I did it, primarily, to lose weight. I never thought I could be a runner but my friend Zack told me I could and gave me a really workable program to get started. He told me to leave the house, run for 2 minutes and then come home. The next day I was to run 3 minutes, and so on and so on. I ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving that year (5 miles) just a few months after I had started running. It felt like the hardest thing I had ever done, and possibly the most important. I stopped for awhile here and there, but I keep coming back to it. I ran the Turkey Trot again in 2010 (about 15 minutes faster than the first year).

A couple of months ago, I decided to start training for the Brooklyn half-marathon. I found out a few weeks into my training that the race was already full and had filled up only two days after registration began. I was disappointed but unphased. I have continued my training and plan to run my own half-marathon on the same day as the Brooklyn half-marathon at the track in McCarren Park. That track is where I run most days lately. I love it there. Especially on weekend days, like today. I watch little kids run around while I run. I watch the soccer matches. I watch the teenagers smoking and trying to out-cool eachother. Everything seems so vividly alive as I make my way around that big circle time after time. The sun came out while I was running just in time to go back down for the day. Overcast all day long and then out for a brief minute and then gone.

I am happy. Running makes me feel like I can do anything and like I can see everything more clearly. I ran 7 miles today without stopping. It took me 1 hour and 28 minutes. I am not the fastest yet, but I am committed and I am capable and that is more than enough for me.