Re: **Official Running Thread**
Running is my #1 pursuit in life. I started running when I was 14, (I'm 25 now.) I did 12 seasons of cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track in high school. In college I ran cross country 4 years. I got into marathoning in the year 2000, and have done 13 of them. Once when I was living in New Zealand for 6 months I decided to run the Kepler Track in one day. It's this 44 mile long trail that goes up from sealevel to 7,000 feet through rainforests to snowcapped peaks. Then down again. Normally it takes 4 days to hike it, I ran it in one, even though I was caught up in a snowstorm above the treeline for a couple hours. Definently took my life in my hands, I was wearing shorts, plowing through snowdrifts up to my knees while the ground fell away on all sides of me. It was the most hardcore thing I've done.
Anyway this year I won my state's most prestigious 10K, and am considered top 10 in distances of 10K and up, (probably like #6 or #7.) With that said, I know that I've still not even come close to reaching my potential as a runner, but I'm trying to- I just ran 23 miles last evening and was too sore to sleep. Sometimes the only fun thing about running is when you're done with it, and sometimes even then it hurts. I'm just endorphin junky though. I like going into roadraces being one of the favorites and dueling it out with maybe one other person for the lead..... I never forget though how it was when I first started, eating everyone's dust, but I kept at it-- and the improvements were steady, which in turn helped me to keep going, till at last I am where I am now: At the pinnacle, first place, #1. When you win a roadrace with several hundred people in it- everyone looks at you like you are a god amoung mortals and that's how you feel. It's the most amazing thing. You can probably imagine what it's like, but unless you've been to the top of that mountain you can't know this level that I'm smiling at.
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