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Sunday, December 9, 2012

What is Improvement?

So on November 14, 2012,  I started the Runner's World Holiday Running Streak.  I am on Day 26.  I have to tell you I expected to be mainlining Ibuprofen at this point.  In spite of my outward 'I got this' bravado I was pretty sure I wasn't the kind of runner that could really pull this off with out the assistance of some major medical intervention.  I had tried, at my husband's urging, to do a month long streak to begin last year.  At that time I had only been intermittently running since March of 2011 and only regularly running since October of 2011.  Needless to say January was a month I would rather forget.

In the last 6 months or so running shifted from "I have to do it because it makes my relationship stronger and I am middle aged now and need to kick up the cardio to maintain a semi-decent appearance" to something I love.  Running is now something I move things around for and change plans to accommodate.  When did that happen?  Well for another day.  The point is I had noticed improvements: better PRs, running longer distances without effort, normal training pace was quicker.  I guess I had not put them all together until I started the Holiday Running Streak. 

When I put on Daily Mile I was going to do this, it was a way to hold myself accountable.  I also got a lot of feedback like "good luck, but I need a rest day."  When I read that I immediately thought, "Yeah, me too.  What am I doing?"  Oh well I was ready for the pain and sacrifice.  What I actually found is I haven't been in pain and my desire to run, which I naturally assumed would decrease because now I had to run, actually increased.  I am now a runner who can run for days on end and get up at the crack of dawn and fit in my run.  Feels good.  As to the question my husband asked today, "hey, are you going to continue your streak after the New Year?"  I have 4 weeks to decide.  I need to find out how much Advil we have first. 

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