Running update after 500km

Today was the day. I finally crossed 500km for the year. My goal for the year is 1000km. I am halfway through in 145 days. I am certainly on the right track. So I wanted to take this opportunity and look back at my progress since 2021.
2021 was my first full year of running. I had a goal just like this year. My goal for last year was 500km. I ended up doing 888km. I crossed 500km in 212 days. Compared to that it took me 67 days less this year. When I put that in numbers, I can easily see the change.
But other than the actual numbers what do I personally see in my fitness levels. In 2021 I tried doing 3km runs whenever I went out to run. The goal was to make 3km runs easy. They indeed weren’t easy and I had to push myself. But as the year went on it got easier. By the end of the year, my monthly kilometers increased and the 3km runs became easier. I could have started doing more regular 5km runs but I decided against it. I wanted to keep that for 2022. I kept on my goal and did better than I expected.
Thanks to my consistency in 2021, I was more confident this year. Seeing my progress I set a challenging but achievable goal of 1000km. Since I did 888km, I was confident that if I kept running consistently I will reach 1000km by December. But this year also I am doing better than I expected. 3km runs have become too easy. I end up running 4km or 5km whenever I get the chance. I also haven’t missed a run this year. That wasn’t something I planned on. My plan was to run 5-6 days a week and do 80-100km a month. But I have done more 100km every single month. I didn’t expect such a change but I think all the progress started to show at the beginning of the year. The weight I lose helped my legs and regular running helped my lungs and my heart. I could feel the change easily. I always try to go back and look at my first run in February 2020. I have the whole first month on my Instagram. Looking back I can see how I struggled at the beginning. But I persevered and slowly I am seeing the change.
I am still not there. Not even halfway through. But the day I am there, you will know.