Today is the day – it’s time to run for 24 hours at the inaugural Upward Spiral 24 Hour Endurance Run!!! It’s awesome for a so many reasons. My friend and running partner Adele is directing the whole thing. It’s something she dreamt up. It’s raising awareness of depression, bullying, and self-harm. The name? Upward spiral. Instead of downward spiral like so many people use to describe depression, like I’ve used to describe the darkest moments of my life. It hits close to home and it IS close to home, literally. Like 10 minutes away close. And it’s free! Absolutely free. How much more could you want in a race?

When I do long runs like these, I always like to set 3 goals for myself. It’s good to have a backup plan because having 3 different level goals ensures I always have something to focus on even if my original plan falls to pieces.

My #1. goal is to hit 100 miles! It’s a lofty goal, seeing as how it would be exactly 5 hours and 44 minutes faster than my previous 100 mile finish, but this is all indoor on a track, which takes away a lot of the unknown factors that tripped me up last year.

My #2. goal is to hit at least 70 miles. If something goes wrong and I end up walking a lot, I should be able to at least hit 70 miles. A plus side to doing a lot of walking is I’ll be able to visit with all my awesome crew that is coming out to support me.

My #3 goal is not my own. If I blow up big time out there somehow and can’t possibly go on, I want to do everything in my power to help others succeed. I will do what I can to help my friend Adele complete 100 miles. I will stick with my friend, and forever cheerleader, Kelly attempting her longest run yet – 3 hours! I will step outside of myself and find people struggling and that look like they could use some help and then step in.

Regardless of what path I take, what goals I meet or can’t meet, the woman that finishes the race is not that same as the woman that starts the race. I’ve lived it many times to know how true it is. It will be true today. It will be true tomorrow.  Why exactly? Because of Hope. Braving the journey and letting it go.