I did it: I ran the full five miles from my parent’s house to my sister’s house without walking. AND I did it in under an hour – 58 minutes.
It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. From the start, I felt tired and unsure of myself, but I wanted so badly to be able to make it that I pressed on. I was pretty sure that my body would be able to do it if my mind let me.
The flatness of this route (in Western New York where I grew up) was a huge – and welcome – difference to the hills in most of my routes in Western Pennsylvania, where I currently live. What’s funny is that this 5-mile route had just two hills, and even though neither of them were as steep or long as what I’m used to, these were more like valleys, with the downhill first. That threw me off. I really had to try to build up momentum on the downhill for the hill, whereas I usually use downhills for recovery. I wasn’t used to that.
I knew the route pretty well, though I’ve only ever driven it before. I knew that I would be turning off the main road at a Burger King, and that my sister’s house would be soon after that, with maybe only a mile to go.
I had never been so happy to see a Burger King in my life.
When I hit the BK and realized that I wasn’t that much further and still hadn’t stopped to walk, I knew I would make it. When I turned into my sister’s driveway, I felt such a sense of accomplishment that I damn near cried.
It was an incredible feeling.
Even though I wasn’t sure I could do it, I was sure I could do it, if you know what I mean. And now that I’ve done it once, I no longer have to wonder if I’m capable of it.
I CAN DO IT.
And there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to do it again and again.
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Incidentally, thank you all for your encouragement! It means a lot to me and helped me accomplish this feat. You guys rock :)
