Sunday, February 3, 2013

100th post and 36 days running

Sorry for the long absence.  I've been meaning to post, but never quite got around to it until tonight!

I looked at my blog and noticed that this post will be my 100th post.  I'm not quite sure what that means, but I wonder how long it will take me to get to 200 (1 year, 2 years, 5 years . . .).

I do have something to share - today I ran for the 36th straight day!  I'm not quite sure this is the best idea, but something I thought about doing just before the New Year.

After the cancellation of the New York marathon, I let my running slip.  Mostly due to work as I was traveling two to three days a week and just working a ton in November and December.  I decided not to run CIM (which I signed up for) as I was only running 1 or 2 days a week and not getting in the long runs I needed for a marathon.  Then, in December I got sick and that completely stopped my running.

I started getting better (from my week long illness) around Christmas and new that I had to start running more.  I just felt out of shape and for some reason really, really wanted to run more.  I always like to challenge myself so I made the goal to see how many days in a row I can run at least 20 minutes.  With my work schedule I knew I had to have a time limit that I thought I could meet every day.  Some days when I need to fly out of town, I need to get up at 5am to catch the first flight out and I don't get back home until 11pm or so (when I'm doing 1 day travel) - so I definitely wanted a time that was reasonable to get a run in.

I started this plan three days before the New Year.  I've had days when I've been sick (should have got the flu shot), cold, in snow, up early, up late . . . but so far I've managed to run at least 20 minutes each day . . . with many days being much more than 20 minutes.

Basically I do my long runs, my tempo runs, speed runs, and my hill runs.  Then on the days my work schedule is crazy or my legs are tired, I just do a nice and easy run (some days I limit that easy run to 20 minutes, other days run (easy) longer).

I'm not sure how long I will keep this up.  A lot depends on my legs - sometimes they seem real tired and need a day or two off.  In fact, I did 15 miles today with very tired legs and am having thoughts of resting a day or two, but I also think it would be great to get to 50 days in a row.

Importantly ---- Go 49ers!  Hopefully, we will win!

And, to close, here are a couple of pictures of my daughter with her riding lessons: