I did 8 miles yesterday. It was one of the easiest runs I have done. 8 easy peas-y lemon squeeze-y miles at 10:09 pace in the beautiful, sunny Kansas fall weather. It was bliss.

I wrote this post in my head while I was running, and since it’s been more than 24 hours since I did that, I have forgotten almost all of it. Here’s the gist.

I said I would NEVER run a marathon. I also said at one point that I would NEVER run a half marathon or even a 10K.

And yet, here I am…six days away from running my first marathon. So let me just get a little emo for a moment.

When I started running, I was doing it because…

1. It appealed to me. Time spent burning calories and de-stressing my brain…yep, I could use some of that.
2. I wanted to understand what my husband saw in transitioning from weight lifting to triathlon.
3. All the cool kids were doing it.

I NEVER imagined running would become MY THING…one of the top four things by which I define myself. (Wife, mother, librarian, runner…if you are taking notes.) If I hadn’t stepped out of my comfort zone and into a pair of running shoes, I would have remained the same…a woman afraid of her future, insecure and uncomfortable in her own body. Running has changed me. It has changed my whole world. Sure, I obsess about weird things now…like missing toe nails, water intake, and fitting in the rest of my life around the weekend long run. But running has given me so much. It has taught me that I am strong. It has taught me that physical limits just don’t exist.

So today, six days away from my first (and not last…more on that later) conquering of THE MARATHON, I am thankful for running and for the word NEVER.