Miles...

Alright guys, this is it. You’ve been reading this "Miles to the Trials" blog and here we are: the Trials are Saturday.

What will happen at the Trials? We’ll get to that in a few days.

But for now, what about that other part: the miles? Through the years, you’ve read about the doubts, the disappointments, the hope, the triumph. But I’m sure you’re wondering about the nitty gritty of those miles in this blog’s title. Specifically, how many were there?

First, there's the question of where to start.

With the first mile I ever ran? The four laps around my elementary school fields, where I beat the boys and got made fun of for trying?

Or was it the summer of 1999, when my sister urged me to go out for cross country and convinced me to join a friend of hers for a two mile run? (Whenever I’m running at home, I pass a street sign by the creek and remember that day. The friend and I stood next to that sign, bent over and purple faced, making a pact that we wouldn’t tell my sister we had cheated and taken a break halfway through. Sorry, Sister, it’s time you knew: I didn’t make it the two miles that day.)

Or maybe the ten miles—my first double-digit run—I did while home from college, when I realized maybe I’d like to run a marathon one day.

Mildly freaking out before my first marathon in 2005.
I don't know, it seems like a lot of miles...

Those are miles that made me a runner, but as I wrote recently, it wasn’t until the spring of 2009 that the Trials entered my mind as a possible goal. So let’s start there. (Also because my training logs before that are nonexistent.)

From the spring of 2009 until now—through nine marathons, two injuries, five moves, starting and finishing graduate school, getting married, joining a team, and starting this blog—I’ve logged 14,655 miles* to the Trials.

What’s another 26.2?

Dream big,

Teal

If you’re interested in following along this weekend, here’s how:

• For lead up excitement/nerves/photos of me scarfing carbs and fangirling, follow me on Twitter and Instagram: @runnerteal
• For live-tweeting during the race, follow Husband on Twitter: @rustabust
• For live TV coverage of the top contenders, watch NBC at 1 pm Eastern Time. Look for me when the lead men start lapping the ladies. (Check my Instagram Friday to see what I’ll be wearing. Spoiler alert: it's pretty freaking snazzy.)

*TIP: If you are planning on qualifying for the Trials, writing a blog about how you did it, and then deciding to count the miles it took: KEEP VERY DETAILED RUNNING LOGS. I did not always take that advice so this is (at best!) a rough guess.

[Inspirational art by P Washington.]