The End

So yesterday's run was my last of my streak. This day ended in tears. I had to choose between continuing the streak and preparing for future races. I also had to choose between healing and possible future injuries. 

I am choosing to heal and race in the future. 

I cannot describe to you the incomprehensible sadness I feel over this. I realize how minor streaking is compared to the rest of life, but streaking was life-changing for me. It gave me the chance to challenge myself and do something great and I feel like it was taken from me before I was prepared. 

Yes once I'm healed, I'll still run. But the sadness is with me for a while. Even once I'm healed and go on that first run, it will be a run of sadness. 

I realize when I'm healed I could start streaking again, but right now, today, that is just not a possibility. I cannot go through this again, at least at this point. For now, I'll focus on recovering and see where my heart is in a few days. 

Days 40-45: Going Places

This past week I've been nursing that same sore ankle. It was getting better daily and as promised (to my husband) I stuck to running one milers. 

Some runs my kids went with me, some the dog and some were just me. All these days  were just to keep the streak going. Some were fast and some were slow but they had no real purpose. 

But one day did have purpose. I used my running as transportation, instead of as fitness. I had to pick up something from the local store a 1/2 mile away. As I ran there, I had to contend with one street light, but for the most part I just ran as fast as I could, while still technically warming up. And the I turned around and I ran home as fast as I could. 

This was such a fun run for me I wanted to keep going (but didn't because I promised my husband).  I felt great, felt strong and most importantly, felt happy. 

After 8 runs of running the same track again and again, I needed this run. In addition to have a purpose of completing my errands, it's purpose was to respark the love and joy I feel when I run, the freedom, the strength, the fun that is not always there in a run, but it sure was in this one. 

Days 36-39:

I've been nursing a strange ankle pain. It was minor, didn't hurt to walk, but felt tight. The pain, which on a scale of 1-10 was only a 2, occurred when I rotated my ankle in a circular motion, which in reality, no one does very often.  So, while I'm still streaking, I had to rest. 

Resting in streaking is running one mile slowly. Running slowly means I make my kids run with me. I took one kid each night. We ran at dark, and for little kids, running at night is a great adventure. We had a great time running together talking about the benefits of running at night: cool weather, adventurous spirit and of course, good company. 

My husband and I also discussed the benefits of running one mile per day. I was complaining that I'd lose fitness and he calculated that on average someone could lose up to 15 pounds a year by running just a mile a day. His argument won. Now I know a lot more goes into weight loss than just exercise, and that is not the primary reason I run anyway, but he made his point, which was I shouldn't be ashamed of running a mile a day when I need to. 

Today, after all that "resting" I decided to take myself out for a little bit of a longer run. I started great, with absolutely no ankle pain. I purposely went where street lights were, just so I'd be forced to stop and rest if I needed to. I ran and ran at a good pace and felt so good. 

However, at a mile and a half, I hit a wall. My pace dropped by a full minute. It wasn't even my ankle, it was my mind. I mentally just gave up, and instead of running, I trudged and trudged at a slow pace and felt so miserable. 

Just a half mile later, I got my second wind and finished this run. Again, my pace picked up and my mind and body were in sync again. 

And so goes the story of my running career, good moments, followed by bad moments, followed by good moments. And my ankle? It's tight, so I'm back to running slow one milers again, but as my husband says, that's A-ok. 

Day 35: The Top 6 Things I Learned While Streaking

So today was the official last run of my streak. I don't think you can do something for 35 straight days without learning a little bit about yourself and life. During this last run of my streak, after running 95.81 miles, I thought of the top 6 things I've learned. 

6. Running is the best anti-depressant or therapy I've ever known. I always feel better, about myself and life. I've run angry. I've run happy. I've run sad. I've run tired. But running handles it all, it gives my brain a chance to process all the junk. In the end, life is just a little better when I run. 

5. I can fit a lot more exercise than I thought possible into my life. Before the streak, I ran three times a week. I thought that was all my busy schedule could handle. However, I learned I can fit a lot more exercise into my life. Really, I can fit exercise everyday into my life, even if it is just ten minutes. 

4. When it gets too hard, slow down. There are some runs that are hard. Either I'm tired or the terrain is difficult, or the mileage is long. I have found that it is easier to just slow down and keep running instead of stopping. If I stop, that just means I'm walking back to the car, which becomes slow and tedious and often more difficult than if I just slowed down. This is true in my life as well. When it gets hard and stressful, I need to just slow down (and probably go for a run -see #6). 

3. Know when you can work harder. When running, I've learned to know when I can push more. Today I was tired, but for a quarter mile, I pushed and ran faster than my normal pace. As I reread old blog posts, I saw a few days when I was tired, but ran farther than I thought I could. While in some cases, it might be advantageous to slow down, often, I have more to give. I've always known I'm a pretty strong person, but this run confirmed I'm a hard worker and dedicated goal setter as well. 

2. Running is solitary, but requires a community. When I run, it's all up to me. Good or bad, the run is powered by my legs and my will-power. But as I ran this streak and wrote about it, I was amazed by all the support I got. I was encouraged to keep at it every time someone I didn't know surprised me by telling me they read my blog. Every "like" on Facebook was encouragement. Every comment on the blog was reason to keep going. Every face to face encouragement made me feel better about doing this crazy thing. Everyone who ran with me, carried me with their support. I did this alone, but I did this with all of you too. 

1. I learned I am an athlete. I never have thought this about myself. I've never committed to long term exercise. I've exercised in the past, weights for a while, yoga classes I loved, but I've never transformed myself so completely, in mind and body, as I did during this streak. I will never win any races and I will never be on the cover of "Runner's World" but in my mind, I am a runner. I hope to always be a runner. 

I am not done. I already have plans to run tomorrow. I don't know how long I'll go. Since I'm at day 35 I might try to get to day 50 (just 15more days). But I'm switching blogging format to once a week and I'll share my favorite run for the week. 

Thank you to everyone who read my thoughts. I appreciate you all. And as someone shouted at me on my run today, "Happy 14!!"