But I still have 94 monkeys to go

Yesterday was my 21st consecutive day of running in the Runner’s World Holiday Runstreak — and frankly my 21st consecutive day of running ever. I sort of can’t believe this is happening.

I’ve had a lot of random thoughts about this that I haven’t had time to form into anything. But in case you’re thinking of ever doing a streak, here are some things for you to think about.

Benefits of a running streak:

1. Helps you get fired up about running. In some ways this streak was ideally timed for me as I was coming off a disappointing half-marathon and vowing that next time would be different. I was also starting to think about building  a base again for my next half (New Orleans, in March) and relighting the fire and all that good stuff. For those first few runs I felt like a marionette whose strings were all tangled up — I couldn’t move — but in a way it was freeing to know that I could quit after a mile. That’s not even 1 sitcom episode.
2. No thinking required. In some ways running every day is easier to remember than 3-4 days. I have been working off a training plan I made myself on SmartCoach, but on the other days it’s: Okay, run 1, and done.
3. Motivation through stubbornness. There have been a few nights where I was coming home late and the last thing I wanted to do was to go to the gym and get dressed for one stupid mile. But I didn’t want to look back and say “Oh, I didn’t do it because I was too lazy.” 
4. Feeling like a super badass. Obviously.

Drawbacks:

1. Risk of overtraining/ injury. This was my biggest fear, as someone who is near religious about rest days, and I made myself swear that on 1-mile “off” days (when I normally wouldn’t run at all) I’d take it easy and not push myself. I have followed this for the most part, except a few rogue days. But to be honest, today was the first day when I woke up and my legs were just cashed. I was supposed to do team speedwork tonight and my ankles and knees are saying no to that, so I’ll probably do some yoga with my mile and do the workout tomorrow instead. (I haven’t been getting much sleep either… that’s probably part of it.)
2. Other exercises fall by the wayside. Seems like some days I used up all my momentum to put in my mile, and when it comes to lifting or cross-training I am spent. One of my sisters and I just started the 100 Push-Up Challenge and I have already fallen behind — and those only take 10 minutes! Obviously, this isn’t good for the long term, and for the second half of the streak I will try harder to continue to incorporate those.
3. The laundry and gear. Because of the dark (more so than the cold) I’ve been doing most of my runs in the gym, and honestly, I don’t even want to look at my gym bag right now. I’ve already had to run twice without socks because I forgot to pack them. (See above re. stubbornness) 
4. No one else is going to care as much as you do. One could argue this holds true for any training plan… but honestly, if you can’t get excited about it, then you will go for a few days and then stop. As for me, because I am crazy, I knew I was invested on Day 4 when I went for a mile run after I had been sitting on a plane all day coming back from Thanksgiving. You have to have the fire in you, otherwise you will not go through with it.

I would definitely consider doing a streak again, although I would probably do something like a strength streak or yoga streak next time. You can definitely do this! (If you want to.)

Today is the seventh day of the Runner’s World Holiday Runstreak. I haven’t missed a day, making this my longest uninterrupted stretch of running EVER. So I’m pretty sure my invite to the 2012 London Olympics is in the mail right now… even though I almost quit today.

Let’s set this up. I was on the verge of not doing this streak in the first place, because I always considered myself to be too injury-prone to handle something so awe-inspiring. Indeed, I have been nearly religious about taking days off in my short time as a runner. I think it’s because I used to get all these twinges when I started running and became convinced I was easy to injure, and of course if I got injured I would fall off the running wagon forever and go back to being fat and inactive, etc. I’ve let go of that fear (mostly) but still been wary of pushing too hard, so I promised myself I would only run recovery 1-milers on my off days, and at any sign of injury I would go out gracefully.

Because of my cold, I have been sleeping like someone who forgot how, so I didn’t get up in time to do my mile and cross-train this morning. Plans to go at lunch (a timeframe in which “run 1 mile” actually makes sense!) were foiled by a moved meeting, and all my work stuff took me longer than I thought. Besides, I was hungry (even after making the budgetary call to eat the contents of my desk instead of going out to buy lunch) and it was cold out. The usual whines and woes.

I finally un-Velcro’d myself from my desk and went out, employing a device I occasionally use to trick myself into running (or running more): Instead of saying “It’s only 3 miles,” I’ll think, “It’s only 10 or 11 songs.” This was really easy in this case, because a mile is — what, 3 or 4 songs? My iPod battery should hold out for at least that long even if it’s in the red.

And as for the hunger, I unearthed a Clif Shot from my gym bag, and that would suffice. I’d never tried Clif Shots (the Clif version of Gu, more or less) and when they were handing them out at the Philly Marathon expo, they seemed suspiciously sloshy in their packets — but it was about Gu consistency and had a similar effect. (Another up side to the runstreak: Trying new things while the stakes are low!) I wouldn’t go for the citrus flavor again — maybe chocolate next time. And if you’re wondering how many people will look askance at you for doing a shot on the streets of New York City, the answer in this case was 3.

So when I got to the gym and realized I hadn’t packed socks, instead of going to buy more socks I threw up my hands and said, “Fuck it, we’ll do it live!” I knocked out my solitary sockless mile — no blisters, good job shoes! — to the merry strains of Jay-Z and took my tired, hungry, grumpus self home to the couch. And sometimes, that little zap of accomplishment is just enough. 32 days to go!

I am the LAST KID STANDING at Thanksgiving 2011! What do I win? …Chilling on the couch with my folks watching the football.

It’s been a relaxing weekend but I haven’t been a complete lazybones. Yesterday I took advantage of the gym where we’re staying and hit a yoga class and a TRX class before putting in my 1 mile for runstreak. The yoga class was paced a little funny but at the end the teacher sprayed us all with lavender, which I loved. TRX, I had never done a full class of, and I did all right with the arm exercises and hilariously badly on anything that required me to put my feet in the straps (planks, leg lifts, hamstring stretches). I didn’t expect to be good at it right away, but was a little demoralized by the dude who looked like Bill O’Reilly schooling me on everything.

Today I went running in and around this park my parents used to take us to when we were little. I had no idea if there was a regular circuit or how far everything was, so mostly I played games with myself (run to something I recognize, run around it, run back; run over the bridges and back, etc.) until I got to 3.1 miles. I probably shouldn’t have run outside with this head cold I’m developing, but it was really special and provided some good thinking time. Also, the streak!

Last Thanksgiving I was so scared of losing control with food that I worked out extra hard as if to “earn” the calories I was about to eat. This year I just worked out and then went about my day, and it was better. It’s good to make healthy choices, but it’s also good to not make yourself crazy doing it.

The runstreak begins!

This morning one of my sisters and I ran a turkey trot in Washington state. The event was somewhat disorganized with a “false finish” where you had to run through all the people who were done and then tack on another loop, and my form was crap due to DOMS and exhaustion from flying across the country, but… we did it!

We were supposed to do the same race here last year, and then it snowed 2 feet on Thanksgiving eve and my parents convinced me it would be too unsafe. Now that I’ve run it I see that — we were in a hilly park and even today I was worried we’d be sliding all over with the frost. Still, I heard they had almost 2,000 people in the snow! It’s crazy those pockets of runners that seem to spring up everywhere.

Bring on the hot shower and the wine.