By Far the Hardest thing Benn has done!....

1,270 miles. By far the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Started May 1st, 2020. Finished tonight July 1st, 2020. So many emotions. So many miles as a "basement troll" going back and forth and forth and back and back and forth and forth and back as I looked out and guarded the garden we planted. Yet that is nothing compared to what so many of my fellow humans do day in and day out. We are united in that we all should be supporting and loving and caring for each other and each of our goals. My heart both burns with passion and hurts with cold, dagger-like pain with our actions as a community. We can and should do better. I ordered this sweatshirt in May and it's been hanging since I started this journey. A Florida student made a UT DIY shirt for his school spirit week. I have family in Tennessee and I have lost a second cousin to suicide by bullying. He was bullied and told his DIY was not "real" or "good enough". NO. We are ALL good enough and IMPORTANT and MEANT to be here. I have seen this sweatshirt 10,000 times as it hung in my basement and I was logging my miles. 5-6 hours every day. Since May 1st. And it hits home. We have a duty to be the role models our children and children's children wish to see. We can and should and MUST do better. My goal was 1,270 miles, a *Laz 2000km ;). This was my reward. To earn the right to wear this shirt. I have battled one eyed squirrels, relentless vegetarian whistlepigs (and their offspring), and seen multiple generations of robins and Warrens (bunnies) being raised. I have so many emotions and so many things I wish I did to be more responsive than I was, but I know that the garden, the wildlife, and humanity will be okay. We are the change the world needs. I have seen our mama rabbit give birth and raise 4 babies, and "too cute" an adolescent bunny, scoot through our kennel fencing into the garden, never touching our plants, but eating the weeds, do a circuit and scoot back out through the fence. Today actually, the day I was finishing, one of the babies of our mama warren came into the fence and did the same thing. Learning? Teaching? We do both in every action. Be humble and be honest. Be thankful we have a home. And food. And utilities. And friends. Quarantine has sucked in that it took away what we thought our "freedom" was. But in actuality, it has accentuated and made even more important the freedoms we do have. We have the freedom to love. And laugh. To Live. To breathe. To Cook. To run. To Support. To honor. To believe. I believe in each and every one of you in whatever your next goal is. And if you ask I am there. I will support you in anything and everything you do. I am thankful to be a runner. To not be bound by location, and yet to honor and love and inspire others to grab and take hold all goals and inspiration they can muster to do better in the world. We must and should be the change. There is no "wait" and "if" approach. It is "now" and "us". I am glad YOU are on my team.