A Mile Is A Mile

 It was the middle of July, hot enough to bake lasagna in a mailbox, when I decided I was going to start walking again.

I wanted my morning walks to be just 3 miles—that’s the length of a 5K. I am off by 0.10686 but that’s called splitting hairs.

I didn’t want it to feel like exercise, like something I was doing to my body instead of with it.

So I let myself be silly. I talk to the birds like we’ve got history together. I stop right there in the middle of the sidewalk and dance a little, for no reason at all except that my feet wanted to, and I’ve learned not to argue with my feet anymore. Let the neighbors think what they want. I gave up worrying what I looked like a long time ago.

What I really want, underneath all of it, is to walk/run in 5Ks again — to feel that particular ache in my legs that means I earned something. I want the fun of it and the fight of it both, because one without the other never did anybody much good.

Back in July, I was slow — a 20-minute mile, the kind of pace that makes you wonder if you’re walking or just thinking about walking. Then I found the walk-run method, and something in me started to loosen up, started to remember what it used to know.

This morning a dog walker cut across my path, threw off every bit of my rhythm. I let it go. I’ve buried better grudges than that. Besides, I needed my puppy fix.

Sixteen minutes. A whole sixteen-minute mile!

Four minutes faster than where I started. Four minutes I earned one ordinary morning at a time… slow and steady.

Come September, I’ll be standing at a starting line, waiting for GO! And I intend to enjoy every last mile of it, because I have learned, the hard way, that the miles you get are not promised to you twice.

🌵 16-minute mile - A solid pace and something to feel good about.

🌵 3.75 mph - That’s the speed you’re moving at.

🌵 You’re moving - That matters more than comparing yourself to runners.

🌵 Building endurance - Every mile helps your body get stronger.

🌵 Getting faster comes later - Consistency matters more than speed right now.

🌵 A mile is a mile - You covered the distance. That’s worth celebrating.