February 2014 = 61.5 Miles, 10 Hours

I will complete a marathon this year.  In that single day I will run 26.2 miles, and to train for that single day I will likely run about 1000 miles over the course of one year.  In the past month I had a 10 day run hiatus due to illness and weather and yet I logged 61.5 miles over a combined 10 hours.  

Each mile feels like a new lesson.  Sometimes its all about putting one foot in front of the other - literally is my form correct, kick up your heels, arms lower, etc.  And then my music mix hits a song that lets me fly and suddenly my mile split is 30 seconds faster.  The next mile I notice my surroundings and awaken to how lucky I am to run past the U.S. Capitol, Smithsonian Museum, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial in the same loop.

Mile after mile my emotions fluctuate from an endorphin high to a crazy energy deplete that finds me looking for ways out of not just today's run, but this whole "I wil run a marathon" thing.

And then I finish the run, down my recovery chocolate milk, take a hot shower, and ache my way through foam roller.  The next hour feels fuzzy and then next 24 hours still make me walk funny from achy knees.  And then I do it all over again.  

I'm not sure I've ever committed to something quite so intense physically which with all I've done from a youth spent dancing and adulthood on my yoga mat is saying a lot.  I've accomplished a great deal in the past month and yet it is likely the fewest miles in any month following this year.

What will it all mean?  I'm not sure yet, but I have many, many miles to figure it out.