On December 1 I started my first ever run streak. A run streak has you commit to running every single day for a set number of days. Hosted by Saskatoon’s Brainsport, this streak ran until Ukranian New Year’s, January 14.
Having never run more than four consecutive days, and having lost some of my running mojo through the fall, I was hesitant but saw this as an opportunity to bring back the fun. With no immediate races on my calendar I had no mileage goals until the beginning of January, so off I went, streaking.
Today marks the last day of the streak. I can’t believe I really did it, honestly. Christmas Day was a challenge, but our company doesn’t over-stay their welcome and once the kids were in bed it was fairly easy to squeeze in the one-mile minimum. Another challenge was being sick for two weeks with a very persistent cold. A chest cold, coupled with exercise-induced asthma usually means I take days off running, but with the grand prize of one massage a month for a year in my mind I just couldn’t.
On the phone with my Mom on the worst night of my illness, my Mom said, “are you still streaking?”
“Yes, until today. I just can’t. I can’t breathe, my heart rate increases just walking across the room. It’s not worth it.” A few minutes later I said the same thing to my husband, but where my Mom had been sympathetic and understanding, Brett was more like a coach. “It’s just a mile, you better do it. You’ll be mad if you don’t.” The guy who has called me crazy many times for running in the dark, the rain, or early in the morning seems to have no problem with guilting me into running when I’m sick! A few text messages with my running buddy Morgan confirmed that she was on his side and I hit the treadmill after swearing at both of them a bit and warning them that it was their fault if I fell off.
In the end, a handful of runners finished every single day of the streak. I am proud to be one of them and am looking forward to seeing who wins the prize draws for t-shirts and that coveted 12 massage grand prize, sponsored by Brooks.
By The Numbers:
45: Streak days
178.7: Kilometers I ran from December 1-January 14. Not as many as I would run in that many days in the summer, but more than I’d usually run at this time of year.
35: Days my run was done on my treadmill. It was -30 Celcius and colder (wind chills to -45) for most of December and into the first week in January. Some hard core streakers still ran outside, but I am definitely not one of them.
20: Days I ran the minimum streak distance of one mile. Considering this streak surrounded the Christmas and New Year’s seasons as well as a two week illness, I think that’s still pretty good.
12: My longest run during the streak, in kilometers. I’m on week five of a half marathon training plan, so my long runs are about to get longer, but it was nice to be able to keep it short during all those boring treadmill days.
All in all, I’m glad I committed to this streak, but I’m also glad it’s over. It did help get me excited about running again, but it will be nice to re-claim my rest days. Living on a farm an hour from anywhere, all my runs are done alone. During this run streak, runners posted their runs on a facebook event page every day, and that gave it a sense of camaraderie. I started to recognize the names of people I’ve never met and gave them a virtual cheer for their runs every day. The run streak group has begun to feel like a run club, and I think that is what made me love it.
runmommyrun3 