Throughout my life, I thought certain things were crazy, like paying to take exams or believing in Santa Claus. Overtime, I always saw the reason for them though; exams help us get into great schools like the University of Illinois and Santa Claus, well, I’m still trying to figure that one out, actually.

But one type of crazy I never expected to understand was runners. Why would anyone want to run longer than the dreaded mile? This time last year, I could barely run one mile, let alone more than 13. Running was painful, it was boring, it took way too much effort, and did I mention it was painful? And unless you are Forrest Gump, you never get anywhere worthwhile.

My freshman year on campus in spring 2010, I volunteered to hand out water to the runners for the 2nd annual Illinois Marathon. Something happened that day. I found myself cheering as loudly as I could for people I knew and more importantly, for people I didn’t: men and women, young and old, the unbelievably fit and the not-so-fit. I realized anyone could train to run for a 10K, a half-marathon, or even a full marathon. It sparked me to do something crazy before I graduated: I wanted to complete a half-marathon.

My sophomore year quickly passed by and junior year I was off campus for an internship. (Note to you freshman, senior year arrives very quickly.) I realized in August, this was my last shot to prove to myself I could do this and I was running out of excuses. I kept telling myself I could run 13.1 miles. I had the freedom in my schedule to train and I had the support from my friends and family to do it. I even had a bet with my dad that if I were to run, he would be at Memorial Stadium to cheer me on.

As of April 27, 2013, I am extremely proud to tell you, dear reader, that I did it. This once entirely out of shape graduating senior ran a half-marathon. I may not have been the fastest, or the absolute best in shape, but after a hard year of training, I did it. And both of my parents were there cheering me on (my dad even ran a block with me about halfway through, though he may have been huffing and puffing a bit more).

And what a town to do it in. There was nothing quite like running down Green Street with the sun in my face, running past the empty stone block that should hold our Alma Mater, running past the houses of cheering Urbana-ites (and for the full marathon, Champaign-ites), running past a giant American Flag or two, running by the greatest volunteers Illinois has to offer, and even running under the tunnel into Memorial Stadium. It was quite a rush.

All of my training, all of the hard work I put into this race proved one thing to me: Anything you put your mind too, you really can do. I always thought that statement was a bit of a reach, for I’ll probably never be an aerospace engineer, or the first woman president (I’ll let Hillary Clinton have that honor), but if you work hard for something and you want to accomplish it, you can.

Because look at what we have done so far. Look at all of us, the class of 2013. We are about to graduate from one of the top universities in the country. Entering freshman year, most of us assumed we would be graduating with a degree, but there was always that chance that we could fail. That we would decide that college was not for us. That we would transfer to another school. Or maybe we transferred here. But we did it. We may have failed an exam or two. There may be some grades we wish we could forget. There may even be some parties or nights we have forgotten.

But when we are up on that stage receiving our diplomas, so many doors will open for us. Maybe we will work part-time for a bit, find an internship, get a master’s degree, a Ph.D, travel or find that coveted full-time job.

Whatever we do or wherever we end up going, without our degree from here, without us trying to accomplish our common goal of graduating, they would be non-existent.

We may even change our minds once or twice, but that is OK, too. In the last 22 years, I sure have a few times.

So do something you think is crazy. Register for a half-marathon. Try something you never thought you could accomplish. Travel the world. Set the bar high. Apply to jobs that seem just out of reach.

Goals are never easy. Graduating from college certainly is not. But class of 2013, we did it anyway.

Congratulations.

Joanna is a senior in LAS. She can be reached at [email protected].