Running Notes

Today I hit a big milestone. I have been running every day for the last six months. On June 1, 2009, I decided to try running every day. I started with a goal of 7 days. That moved on to two weeks. Then one month. Eventually I had a goal of 100 days. Then 150. Today marks 184 days. The longest run was a half marathon in October, in which I had a personal record and *almost* broke the two hour mark. The shortest run was 1.5 miles while I was on vacation with my family in Disney World. Most of the runs were two or three miles. To see why this is all so significant, go here to read about my running background.

In the last six months I’ve run 564 miles. My average pace in June was 10:01 minute miles. My average pace in November was 9:29 minute miles.

I’ve run during a conference, I’ve run on vacations. It’s been windy, rainy and cold, and hot and humid. I’ve run in the early morning, and once in the dark, mostly in the afternoon. I’ve run in Portsmouth, Hampton, Newmarket, Rye and Stratham, New Hampshire; St. Louis, MO; Orlando, FL; and Newport, RI. I’ve run mostly outside and a few times on a treadmill. I’ve run perfectly healthy, exhausted, even hungover! I’ve had great runs and I’ve had terrible runs (surprisingly not related to the prior statement). I have had PRs (personal records) and PWs (personal worsts).

I’ve learned a lot in the two-plus years that I have been running, and a lot of that has been learned during the last six months. When I started running, I thought I had to drink exactly the right amount of water and eat the perfect foods exactly the right amount of time before a run. Running every day means I had no excuses. It means I ran through circumstances I wouldn’t have run through in the past. It means that I learned I could do so much more than I ever thought possible. If I could run while hungover and exhausted, what ELSE could I do? What CAN’T I do?

In six months of running every day (and blogging/tweeting about it), I have had the most extraordinary experience of being told that I motivated other people to run. Or walk. Or bike. That is AMAZING! And it's the best feeling, even better than running itself. And it is incredibly motivating.

How long will the streak go? Who knows. As long as it can. My friend and co-worker pointed out that I can’t exactly tweet/blog that the streak stopped just because I didn’t feel like it. Excellent point, Jeff. I’ve said only illness, injury or ice will stop me. That has now been changed to illness or injury. My treadmill arrived yesterday! Although I hate the treadmill and have to do everything possible to distract myself when I am on it, I am grateful to have somewhere to run when it is either too icy, or too dark. So onward I run…