A Journey of 100 Miles

Who picks the hottest month of the year to log their highest mileage month to date? Yep, that would be this runner! Today marks the end of August and it also marks a bit of a running milestone for me. As I finished up my Tuesday 5 miler, I was also finishing up 100 miles for the month. I have been more aware of my monthly mileage over the last few months because I have set a goal to run 1,000 miles in 2010, and I have been monitoring my progress very carefully. Recently I have been looking ahead at the coming month and totaling the number of miles possible if I don't miss any runs or cut any short. When I was looking at August, I noticed that there was a possible 98-99 miles if I ran all of my planned runs. I made up my mind right then and there that I wanted to run 100 this month. It was the perfect opportunity because I had help from the calendar as August had 5 Sundays and 5 Tuesdays. I typically only run on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday--as you can see the "extra" days really helped bump up my total. I have found that these mileage goals really push me to keep my planned distances or to go a little bit further. It is a good thing and something I intend to keep up in the future. I do best when I have a fixed or concrete goal on my horizon. This morning was pretty brutal too--I was so tired and it was 80 degrees with 90% humidity. On any other day I might have cut this run short--it was just so hard (insert whine here!). However, I could see that big goal in my mind and I couldn't let myself down. I had some peer pressure too because I had been talking about this goal on Facebook and Daily Mile. I am glad that I did it and am pleased with my accomplishment. Those 100 miles were some of the ugliest running that I have ever done. This August was so hot and humid, with the nightly low rarely dropping below 80. I can't wait for cooler weather!

I am happy to see September come because the fall racing season is my favorite time of the year. Coming up on the calendar we have the Tour des Fleur 10K and the Heels and Hills and Him Half Marathon. Two of my favorite races, stay tuned for more stories!