Run Streak Success

My first day of my Holiday Run Streak was great.  I ran 5.1 miles and was feeling awesome!  So excited that I wanted to run , and that it felt good too.  Day #2 proved to be a pretty decent 2 miles.  Then I hit a bad patch on day #3.  One very hard, what seemed like forever mile.  No worries,  I pulled it back together for day 4 and 5, with 3 miles each, and then....Day 6, 7, 8, 9 happened.  Each of those days I was managing to "Squeak" my run in.  I knew I only had to go one little mile to make it count.  I didn't want to let myself down.  So I jumped on my tread mill at 9:30 at night just to "get it done".  These were not very fast miles, and they felt particularly awful.  Each morning after, when I awoke, my body was sore.  What on earth had I done?  I only ran a mile.

Day 10.  I made a choice.  I chose to break my streak.  Now I couldn't post to Twitter on my accomplishment, or keep up with my Streaking friends.  But was it all bad?

On Day 11, with a one day break, I ran a fantastic 3 miles.  It was a great decision for ME.  I learned a bit more about myself.
No, I didn't even come close to the goal of completing the 30+ days of running. But what I did do...

• Started running again
• Remembered that I enjoy running (when I wasn't just "getting it done")
• Learned that my body really does prefer a morning to mid-day workout
• Learned that my body likes a break now and then
• Started feeling mentally and physically better
• Remembered that although I'm busy, I can get some miles in, even if I miss one of my workout windows for the day
• Learned that just because I didn't hit my original goal, doesn't mean I failed

We all have to decide what success and failure mean in context in our lives.  I was so worried about failing to reach my goal, that I was missing what my body was saying to me.  In the end when I chose a different path, I attained success.  Not my original goal, but success in my running moving forward.

To all of you still Streaking.  Great Job!  I'm not sure I'll ever figure out how you do it.  For those of you who have stopped, Great Job trying.  And for those of you who haven't tried a streak, I think I would recommend trying it to see what you find out.

And 6 days after I ended my streak, I did my fist Half Marathon in 9 months.  Stay tuned to see how that turned out.