it's not that I could not, but that I had not.

I remember when I was eleven and I'd never run a mile.
I didn't even think I could.
Then I did.

I remember when I was nineteen and I'd never run a 5K.
I knew I probably could...
...but I didn't think I'd love it.
Then I did.

I remember when was twenty-five and I'd never run a 10K.
I knew I was reasonably fast.
I had trained - I knew I could do it.
So I did.

I remember last May, at thirty-two, when I'd never run a half marathon.
I was so nervous.
I trained religiously and prayed I would make it across the finish line alive.
I worried about my diet and sleep and music and whether or not my hair would bother me.
Then  race day came, at long last, and...
I did it.

Then last weekend I ran another.
A couple minutes slower - but with very little stress.
Almost like it was just another day.  Another run.
"Another one in the books," as I overheard another runner tell his friend afterward.

Now I wonder - come April - my first full marathon at age thirty-three...
can I do it?

I can only look back at what I never imagined I could do, and think -

Yes, I can.

post-race!  "Pick me up!  Pick me up!" 

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What have you done in your life that you never expected you could do?