One Thousand Miles

I started running in the summer of 2001 after my daughter was born. I took a break to balloon up and birth my second child in the spring of 2003. As soon as my son could safely be strapped in, I'd stuff the kids into my trusty double jogger and take 'em along. Some days it was the only place the kids would sleep.

I've never been really sure how far or how fast I've run, aside from a few scattered 5 & 10K races (best time: 46:10 for a 10K) - until I got the Nike+ kit about a year ago. Since then, I've tracked my runs by time, mileage, calories...and enjoyed the rah-rah encouragement of Lance Armstrong and Paula Radcliffe when I'd achieve a personal best time or distance. And now, I've passed a major mileage milestone. (Nice piece of alliteration, huh?)


One thousand miles; 126 runs. Average pace: 8:30 per mile, which translates to 8,513 minutes or the equivalent of nearly 6 full days. During those miles, I've wandered, worried, suffered, dreamed, schemed, observed the world around me, and incurred sunburns and chafing in unpleasantly unmentionable places. I've done about a third of those miles on the indoor track at the JCC, so I've run the equivalent of nearly 6,000 laps around that tiny track. No wonder I spend so much time staring at the pickup basketball games.

Since the milestone came on Academy Awards Sunday, I'd like to take a moment to thank all of those people, places and things that have empowered my running:

1) My husband Will, who watches the kids so I can hit the road (weather depending) and for whom I am trying to stay fit and remain (become?) a MILF into our golden years.

2) My job - for being stressful enough to force me to engage in regular strenuous physical activity to burn off frustration (the alternatives being alcoholism, Scientology, kicking dogs, or tearing up hotel rooms.

3) My kids - of course, they are the little loves of my lives. But like all kids, they can be such a pain in the ass at times. I am determined to stay healthy in order to live long enough to be a pain in THEIR ass someday.

4) My father in law, Jim - you've inspired the belief that bad knees be damned, I have still many miles in front of me.

5) My ass...I'm no Heidi Klum but after two pregnancies, I'm not displeased with its current shape, size, and elevation.

Running has become a part of my life, my identity, and my blood in a way that I never could have imagined. It's taught me to be proud of what my body is and what it can do, instead of worried about what it looks like and what other people think of it.

Maybe someday my kids will be running next to me. That would be welcome. But alone or with company, I hope I'll always have my runs...the sun on my back, the crisp air in my lungs. The knowledge that the faster I run, the cooler the breeze.

Thanks again, everyone.