So the challenge was/is to run at least 1 mile everyday between Christmas and New Years. When you sign up for stuff like this you don't ever think about the day to day troubles that one will have trying to fit a run in. Some of the day to day situations have been ... how much laundry that one produces running in 0 degree temps, how tired one becomes from running every day, how annoying run tracking apps can be. When you sign up for things like this you think about how happy you will be when you are done, how strong you will be etc. Probably that's the glamour that makes us all want to sign up.
I can't tell you how much this is driving me crazy. I haven't actually counted how many days I have run yet, or how many days I have to go. I actually don't even care too much about the distance or how fast/slow I'm running. The girls at the club are telling me I should end it at the 5k race on January 1st. Right now the thought of running a race kinda makes me want to throw up. It is so hard to find the time and the clothes and even the motivation, for the first mile, then usually it isn't so bad. But it is Christmas time and there is so many things to do (my kids remind me on a daily basis what I haven't done). I won't lie, I'm not feeling very supported in this endeavour either. It isn't like people are telling me that they will take care of stuff so I have an extra 20 minutes. And would 20 minutes even be enough time because once you get started 5 miles maybe doesn't sound that bad. So basically we will say I hit rock bottom, I was so tired on a run early one morning (like maybe 5 am) that I guess I forgot to pick up my feet and fell. Lucky for me I learned (slowly) how to put my hands out but still got my knee. It was that point right there that I wanted to sit on the sidewalk and cry and forget the whole stupid challenge. But I picked myself up and ran home. Which was when I think my run tracker app on my phone was a little (a lot) off on the mileage. That was probably the least of my worries but combined with the rest of the run it did add to the irritation. It was then that I received a text from a friend that said we are on the downhill side, we can do this. Then the weather forecast says a balmy week in with lows not going below 25 for the week ... maybe I can do this. The ice is slowly melting off the sidewalks, and yes my knee is sore and yes I'm still tired but I'm also stronger, both mentally and physically. And I'm on the downhill side of this. When I started a guy that had done this before said "...when you run every day you don't have time for your muscles to get sore. You don't have a sore this or that." Well he is right, just extreme amounts of tight quads and calves. That tends to loosen up.
This has almost had the same mental game that happens during a race. You start off really great and then about 1/2 way through you think to yourself how dumb this all is and you will never do it again but then the last few miles come along and it all seems manageable again. Then about 2 hours after the finish you start to figure out the 'next' thing. So I'm assuming once you play this game for awhile that the game gets easier? Maybe more manageable? Maybe it doesn't... I don't know.
A girl at the running club last week said she felt so lazy, she didn't run for 4 days in a row. I looked at the one friend doing this challenge with me and we both said we couldn't wait to have 4 days off in a row. I wonder if I'll think the same after this is over. Or if I'll even be able to go 4 days without running.
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