Three Miles

I did it-- I just completed my first day of training for my marathon.
Three miles.
It was hard, it was invigorating. I was weak, I was triumphant.
I enjoyed it.

The mountains cut a crisp, edgy line on the pale sky. The wind clipped at my cheeks (and beat my ears, which I didn't think about protecting). My music was loud enough to give me a little atmosphere of my own, but soft enough that I could still hear the faint rush of cars everywhere. It wasn't the most scenic route, but it was my route, so I loved it.
I walked quite a bit. So with my walking figured in, I "run" a 15-minute mile. Even my running pace is more like a long-legged jog. On the elliptical, it's more like a 12- and sometimes 10-minute mile, but of course the elliptical is nothing like solid ground. So my chest feels just a little tight (the air was pretty chilly this morning), and my ears feel sort of...big...like, numb and cold and kind of stupid, you know? But the rest of me feels fantastic. My calves maybe feel it? I stretched partway through and after.
I definitely had to push myself. And be kind to myself. I quickly reversed any negative thoughts. And if sometimes I really felt like I wanted to walk, I let myself walk. I had to pick points ahead of me as mini finish lines. I made it to each one!
Did you know that from a height of about 5 feet the horizon is 2 1/2 miles away? If you can manage to get a straight shot of it, that is. That was interestingly encouraging for me when I was thinking about how far I was trying to go.

Well, I did it! I really did it! I BEGAN! And you know what that means? That means I'm going to finish it. As hard as it was to go three miles this morning, and as hard as it will be tomorrow morning, there's no question I can run a marathon. I could do it now (I honestly could), so when I finally reach that point and do it in about 5 months, I'll be so ready.