Tuesday: 0 miles on the road, but a journey down an 11-year friendship birthday celebration with Maggie (and her wonderful husband, Ed); Wednesday: 8.3 miles around downtown Madison and Willy Street with Bill

Somewhere in the middle of the year I thought I could do the 1,000 miles alone.  I stopped asking for people to help me.  I’m not sure if it was pride, or an inflated self-confidence.

“I ran a marathon, I can do this.”

But what I forgot was that I didn’t run the marathon alone.  Bridget, Fred, Molly G., and Michael (among others) spent countless hours running our favorite routes around DC to help me train.  Dana and I exchanged daily texts.  My sister traveled hundreds of miles to surprise me for the marathon and ran 15 miles with me, encouraging me at the end of a rainy, cold run to the finish line.  My cousin, Ryan, ran 20 miles with me.  My cousin, Brett, tapped me on the shoulder at mile 9 (awesome surprise!) and ran 11 miles with us. Dana and Ricardo started the run with us, starting a fun Spanish singing/translation tradition, and plugged along finding strength along the race route.

I did not run the marathon alone.  Somewhere after mile 26.2 I stopped asking for help.  It wasn’t until last week that I realized what had happened.  I need help.

After realizing I needed to run 7+ miles a day last weekend, I was determined to run every day. So, I ran alone on Sunday and Monday.  But, the entire point is not running for the sake of running, it’s running for the sake of making connections and sharing these 1,000 miles.  Last night, Bill and I enjoyed the miles beneath the moonlit sky and twinkling city lights.  There were moments of good conversation, silly “don’t stop believing” singing and silence.  It was a comfortable run, in my home (again) with a new friend.

Sara Grace, your comment resonated:

“Yay Amy!! Go for it! If you finish strong, you won’t care whether you have exactly 1000 or not. So excited to watch your miles stack up – it may even inspire me to get off my yoga and get a few miles in. :) Can I run miles and donate them to you?”

As a long-time “full-time volunteer” I’m familiar with asking for donations.  And, I can see now that I need help.  I am going to push to finish the year strong and run as many miles (with as many people) as possible.  But, yes, Sara, I would love to accept your miles as donations.

And, I’ll take help from anyone else who is willing to donate theirs.  Just add your mile total in the comments, and I am sure we’ll get to 1,000 miles together.