That's the furthest I've ever run, and I ran that today. The furthest I had run before that was 4.5 miles. And that was just last week. It's amazing what you can do when you set your mind to something. It's also amazing how one little thought "this is all I'm capable of doing" will stifle you and keep you from progressing. I started running about 4 1/2 years ago. My friend asked me if I wanted to train for a half marathon with her and so I said, why not? I hadn't ever run before with the exception of PE class in school, but I figured how hard could it be? Plus I really wanted to get back into shape. So we started in April and by July, our lofty goal of 11 miles was well, quite lofty. That year we ran a 5k (3.1 miles) instead. It was a big accomplishment for me and I didn't care how long it took me as long as I didn't stop and I didn't finish last. And guess what...I didn't stop, I didn't walk, and I wasn't last!
I still remember when I first started running how excited I was when I could run a whole mile without stopping. Then one mile became two, and two became three- then three and a half. And that's about where I settled in. My friend stopped running with me and so I found myself on my own. That next year I wavered there for a little bit, found excuses to not go out and run. I didn't have anyone to go with, or it was too cold outside, or too hot. But eventually I discovered that I could do it on my own and I found the desire to get going again. And so I did.
So the past two years I've been happily running but I've stayed in that 3 1/2 mile range for distance only going to 4 miles on rare occasions. I've had the goal of running a 10k (6.2 miles) race for some time now, but hadn't made much progress on my distance. For some silly reason, I was telling myself that the 3.5-4 miles was "all I'm capable of doing right now." Why was I telling myself this? I had been running for a few years and had my 3.5 miles down great, but what happened to my goal? Surely by now I have built up my endurance enough to push myself a little further. What was I afraid of? Enough of the thought "this is all I'm capable of doing." That was getting old. So, last week I decided to do just that. I pushed myself a little further and I ran 4.5 miles. The furthest I had ever gone! And you know what, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Today I decided that I was going to push myself again. I decided I would try for 5.5 miles. I knew I could do 4.5. What was one mile more? Then as I was running I thought what the heck, I'm just going to go for 6. I wanted to see if I could do it. I told myself I was going to do it. And you know, I did it. I didn't stop, I didn't walk, I just kept going. It may not have been the fastest run, but that wasn't my goal today.
I guess the whole point of this is that you never really know what you are capable of until you try. Too many times we let self doubt or our own comfort zones impede our progress and our goals. I had set the bar at 4 miles tops for so long that was all I believed I could do. Funny thing is, once I decided I could run six...I knew I would do it. My body may hate me tomorrow but that's okay because I'm now only .2 miles away from my goal, and that feels really good.
Have you started your Christmas cards yet? If you said no...that's okay, me neither! I did however make a card the other day for our weekly sketch challenge over at Lizzie Anne Designs. I'm not sure if I will mass produce this one or not yet. I need to make a couple more before I decide what I'm doing. In the meantime, I had fun playing with my stardust gelly roll pen. Man, I love that pen! You can't tell in the above picture how I used it, so here is a close-up. 
I just drew over the tree lines to give it a little pop. 
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