30 x 30; Run 100 Miles

With my half marathon looming a mere 12 days away, I set to off toward the coast on Monday night for a run. Minimum 4 miles, I told myself. I'd just done 4 miles a few days earlier, so it would be no big deal. I just had to get those last 4 to reach my goal of running 100 cumulative miles before I turn 30.

Can I just start off by telling you how much I love running at the beach? Holy smokes.

First, the smell of the ocean is 90 percent amazing - occasionally, you'll catch the smell of sewer or rotting fish, but in general, sand and ocean smell = amazing.

The sea breeze is so perfectly subtle, it keeps you dry and cool.

The air is peaceful and people are out with their dogs and there are no cars to make sure you don't get hit by. I LOVE RUNNING AT THE BEACH! Somehow it creates this wonderful illusion that I can run forever. I only wish I'd committed to getting over there sooner. As it stands, only two of the last 4 runs I went on were at the beach. Only two of the last 40 or 50 runs I've been on ever have been at the beach. This is changing going forwards.

But that's it though. I've run 100 miles. Actually, since I ran 6 miles last night, I've run 102 miles since last October. Since I didn't start out as much of a runner, this is pretty impressive for me. You may remember, I ran my first 10K last year, and then - without much training in between - I ran another 10K in March.

But I didn't get the bulk of my miles in until I started training for my half marathon. I ran 27 miles in one week, and then I kind of stopped worrying about it. In the beginning, I did think the 13.1 miles I'd be running in the half marathon would end up counting towards my 100, but it didn't work out that way. I finished my 100 with just over a week and a half to go.

I'm also feeling much much better about the upcoming "race" (which I put in quotes because I'm not trying to beat anyone except the urge to walk). My half marathon will be at the beach, so my recent switch to running in the right environment has been so uplifting for me - that feeling that I could run forever.

I'm going to continue to *hopefully* go on at least one run per week after I finish my half marathon, and I've decided to keep track on my blog. Follow along to see how far I get before my 30th birthday!