I did it :)

Remember how I said I was going to do 139 miles in 19 days? Due to the challenge ending sooner than I thought it was -- (I thought I had one more full day) and some days where no walking or running was done at all... now that everything is said and done... I have completed 139 miles in 15 days.

I have completed a total of 150 miles in 21 days. The challenge was supposed to take place over six weeks and I did it in three. I'm pretty sure I'm certifiably crazy at this point -- (or I already was before and no one had the heart to tell me.)

Here is how the challenge ended for me: I was at Steve's Yia Yia's house on the treadmill and I knew I was close to reaching my goal. Steve was downstairs leaving me alone so I could finish up. Now, I've listened to a lot of music during this challenge. A lot. I've often said that if I were actually able to complete this, I would owe at least half of the victory to Lady GaGa. I didn't plan what the "victory song" would or should be. I've listened to a lot of GaGa, a lot of Michael Jackson, a TON of Eminem and many, many others during all of this... but at the 11th hour, it was The Boss that brought it home. Wrecking Ball came on, I looked at my iPhone and saw that this was it... and I started sprinting. After already doing 23 miles in one day, I'm sprinting to the finish even though I insisted I'd probably be crawling. I'm insane.

Then, a couple of minutes before I'm set to "cross the finish line" I see this from my dad:

So then I have tears in my eyes, the mile tracker hits its mark, the final chords of Wrecking Ball play out, and all I hear is Bruce screaming, "Bring it on!"

And then the fireworks start exploding outside. No joke. I insisted to Steve that they were for me :) If he was smart, he would have told me that he arranged all of it! We watched them together and laughed when the sparks came too close and then I made him get into the pool with me so we could watch them from there. What a fantastic end to a really tough challenge. It was all worth it. EVERY SINGLE MINUTE. Especially that last moment, with the well wishes from friends and family pouring in all day, and then that last, somehow perfectly-timed message from my dad... and then Bruce, fireworks and Steve. 


You know, it's good advice for anyone embarking on a new challenge: BRING IT ON. Anything is possible. And sometimes, if you're very lucky, at the end there will be fireworks.


As Molly said to me, "One word. Yes. One more word. Believe." This has become my mantra.


Bring it on.