Why did I run 100 miles?

It’s a fair question, right?

I think it started with the shoes. Nike created a challenge that gave the top 50 runners (mileage) a free pair of kicks.

Some people said it would take 60 miles to be top 50, some said 75. I thought 100 would definitely seal the deal. So a couple days before last Tuesday, that’s what I decided on.

Tuesday to Tuesday, 8 full days of running = 100 miles.

A few feet from where I’m sitting there’s a printed certificate on my wall.

It’s from the first 100 miles I ran on Nike+ last year. It took at least a month, probably more to complete.

As of yesterday evening, I had run just over 102 miles. In 8 days.

Today I’m losing 2 toenails (gross!) and I could hardly pull myself out of bed this morning.

At some point I realized that I didn’t care so much about the shoes anymore. I finished in 28th place, but had it been 51st I wouldn’t have been too upset. Maybe a little upset, but not really. In the end, it became more about a personal challenge than a pair of shoes.

On a little more than a whim, I did something as foolish as running more than twice my usual weekly mileage. People have injured body parts doing far less.

Here’s the thing: I ran it because I needed to push myself. Because grad school, a family, a packed full time career and my regular running schedule just wasn’t enough, right? Right. But my mind is stronger than my body, my passion can defy the laws of physics, right? Right. And you can put up with anything for 8 days, right? Right.

And I am extremely proud of my good friend Steve, a recent non-runner apparently turned running fiend, who finished right behind me in 29th place and hit over 101 miles.

What do you need to push yourself to do?