On August 10, 2018, I began my current run streak. A quick aside: Before this one, I did a 40 day streak from Thanksgiving 2017 to New Years Day 2018, and really enjoyed it. I didn’t catch the “run streak” bug at that point though.
Since 8/10/19, I’ve run at least one mile every day. On top of that, on January 1st, I felt the need to add to the challenge, so I made a secondary goal that I could run at least one mile outdoors every day. Thus, I have several rainy, snowy, icy, windy, and/or sick runs under my belt for this year. I’m proud of the fact that I’ve run at least a mile every day. For 345 days. I haven’t missed one.
Until today.
Yesterday was day 345 and I have 943 miles under my belt for this current streak. I kept track in a spreadsheet cuz I’m nerdy like that 😛
Why run streak?
- For a feeling of accomplishment every day
- To get at least an 8-10 minute workout in every day
- For the community (RW Run Streak group on Facebook)—they are very encouraging and there’s a sense that “we’re all in this together!”
- To (maybe) get stronger and faster
- For the challenge/thrill of doing something hard
Why stop now?
I had a goal of making it to day 365 (August 9th) and 1,000 miles–after my initial goal of run streaking indefinitely felt too vague, and frankly too difficult.
My shins feel the pain, and off & on since November I’ve had shin splints. And I’m tired. Many of the runs lately have just been 1 mile. Without a true rest day, the fatigue builds, and the summer heat & humidity do NOT help my case. So my body is telling me that the run streak is coming to an end. I’ve been ignoring my body for the sake of getting to 365 days, but at this point, I have lost the energy and motivation around this goal. I just want it to be over. So today I purposely went hiking, enjoyed every moment of it (minus walking into a spider web!) and didn’t feel guilty in the least for ending my streak.
It’s an accomplishment to be proud of, but in the end, it doesn’t have much meaning in the grand scheme of things. For me, it felt like the run streak was taking a higher priority than I want it to have in my life right now. Especially on vacation days, it became a drag. I really just wanted to take a rest day and completely devote my attention to my family and relaxing.
In addition, I will be walking the Pacific Crest Trail at the beginning of August, and I don’t really want to get up early, run a trail mile, THEN walk 10-20+ miles after that.
The other reason I want to stop is that I have stopped doing other activities that I enjoy (swimming, yoga, strength training) because running has taken the highest priority, and all the others have fallen by the wayside, unfortunately.
I think the streak has been fun/motivational, and served its purpose, but now I feel slightly burned out from running, and I think I could have better balance with my workouts if I take true rest days, and add back in the things I also enjoy (swim, yoga, lifting). So that’s the plan!
Have you ever tried a run streak (or other type of streak)? How did it go?
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