71 Miles

Its been 20 years since I have crossed the 70 mile per week line. This week after a long 3 years of slowly building my mileage back up I hit my peak mileage of 71 miles for this marathon cycle. 71 miles may not be a ton of mileage compared to what an elite athlete may run, but for this 38 year old body it is a milestone and confidence builder. One of the main reasons I quit running when I was a freshman in college was that I could not successfully maintain a mileage load without injuring myself. I was fragile, and could never get stronger no matter what I did. When I returned to running 3 years ago I swore to myself that I would build a giant base of strength before I even attempted to turn on the speed. Getting back up to 70 plus miles reassures me that I am working harder and smarter than ever before. As I finish up this marathon cycle in the next couple of weeks I will feel empowered by this week, and use that strength to push me through those last grueling miles on October 7th.