Let me take you back to middle school. Why anyone would want to go back to those years of nerdy insecurity is beyond me, BUT my story is quite exciting. I started running in middle school. I grew up loving dancing and cheerleading, but didn't start running until the Turkey Trot.




That's right, a 1 mile run in front of the entire school the day before Thanksgiving vacation. If you know me you know I am incredibly competitive, mainly with myself. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to push myself. Imagine me in the 6th grade. Back then I was super skinny with a mouth full of braces. The night before the Turkey Trot I suited up in my purple and white (school colors) wind-suit (yikes! Okay, try NOT to picture that) and did one whole lap around my neighborhood of training. I was not physically ready for the race and came in 9th place out of the 6th grade girls. I think my time was 9 minutes or something like that.

THE NEXT YEAR. 7th grade. I place 2nd in the Turkey Trot with a time of 7:59. Not too shabby. The next year, 8th grade, I placed 2nd AGAIN with an even better time of 7:27. My friend Shawna ALWAYS placed 1st and was way ahead of me and my friend Allison always placed 3rd right behind me.

7:27 had been my best mile documented, that is, until TODAY. I had never just run a mile as fast as I could. I have been running and training with lots of speed work so today I just tried to run as fast as I could for a mile.

Would you believe me if I told you I RAN A MILE in 6:58? I am just as shocked as you are but boy am I excited! I even logged two more miles after that making my 3 mile run 23:33. This is just crazy! If I was a part of the I PHONE world I would have snapped a picture to document it. As it is, I am a member of the flip phone world and would have no means of posting such a photo. You'll just have to take my word for it. I am pretty credible.

So I realize hardcore runner run sub 7 minute miles for a marathon distance, THAT IS IMPRESSIVE. I would by no means put myself in that hardcore category, which is why I am just super stoked with my sub 7 minute mile. It is the small things in life, people. :)

I will do better at snapping pictures!