Personal Best.

I never thought I'd say this, but I just ran 18 miles. Not in one week. I ran it in 2 hours and 54 minutes. That's a 9:45/mile pace. Granted, I'm not exactly breaking any world records, but it's a personal record for me. And that's what counts. More importantly, I felt little to no knee pain during the run. After the run, well, that's a different story.

The only way to explain how I've gone from gasping for air during my first run in April (which was 5 miles, and I stopped several times) to running 18 miles some six months later is to give God the credit. When you believe that God is capable of strengthening you, amazing things happen. I now believe I can run a marathon. Would I want to run one tomorrow? No. I still need the time to prepare. As of today, I've got 61 days left. That's less than 9 weeks. The last two weeks, I'll take it easy. But for the next 5 weeks, it's going to be intense. Long runs of 15 miles or more every Saturday. And a 20 miler two weeks from now. I now believe I can do it. Of course, I'll need lots of Gatorade and Goo along the way.