Last week, I got the opportunity to speak with the newspaper staff at Seymour High School.

Mrs. Laura Cottrill, who advises the group, invited me to come in and share my profession with the students and asked if I would also field some questions.

After laying out my craft with the young men and women, I was took a question that caught me off guard. I was asked how many miles I’ve run since I started training for the half-marathon.

The class had used some of my articles as writing examples, and the kids have followed my journey through the first two columns.

Fumbling with a response, I pulled out my phone and sifted through my app that tracks/maps all of my runs.

On the fly, I sputtered the incorrect answer.

I hadn’t accounted for the runs that had already been logged prior to the beginning of my venture.

There are some runs on my device from when I lived in Australia and others when I went to college in my home state of New York from 2010 to 2013.

Two days ago, a week after meeting with the kids, I went through my scheduled runs and added everything together.

As of Friday morning, I am up to 101 miles on 24 total runs.

I am two-thirds of the way through my training and have hit more than 100 miles.

I had to get up from my desk and take a walk around the office after coming to that conclusion.

Had I really gone that far? I’m only running three to four times per week. It’s not like I am preparing for a full marathon.

I’m only half crazy.

Mulling it over, it all made sense that I’ve hit 100 miles.

When I first started, I ran 3 miles minimum three times per week. That mileage has slightly grown each week since.

For example, this week, I ran 4.5 miles twice and capped it with 8 miles Friday morning.

Add those eight weeks up and you get to the century mark.

On a side note, one thing I didn’t expect with this training was how much more of Seymour I would see.

I’ve run through a lot more neighborhoods than what I was familiar with prior to starting this journey.

I’ve seen some really nice neighborhoods and areas that need help. I’ve run through the not-so-nice parts of town, near my former residence, just after sunrise.

I hope this training helps me get a better understanding of our readership. Believe it or not, Jackson County is more diverse than you would think.

This past Saturday (prior to Friday’s run), I ran the farthest that I’ve gone in 10 years.

It was a painful 7 miles during one of the hottest parts of the day (a poor choice), but man, I felt a sense of accomplishment.

Ten years ago, I was 16 years old and running cross-country in upstate New York.

Out of pure curiosity, I also hit the scale that day.

I’ve dropped 15 pounds in eight weeks. There are shirts that no longer fit, and I’ve gone down a belt size. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was.

Progress has been made, and all it took was trusting myself and the schedule that I came up with for myself.

Thirty days from today, I will take the starting line in Louisville.

I just need to stay the course.

Jordan Morey is the sports editor at The Tribune. He is training for his first half-marathon, which will take place Oct. 20. This is the third column of five installments.