Alright, I'm not here to give TV/movie reviews. Although Breaking Bad is top 5, maybe even top 2 in my books. (other fav Sopranos, no, I haven't watched Game of Thrones or have any interest)
Friday, January 22nd. A blizzard started early evening. Saturday morning, it never stopped. Still coming down strong. Started watching Breading Bad. Took breaks ever 2 hours or so to do some shoveling, etc. Afternoon, still snowing, maybe getting lighter, but still no plows. State of emergency for the weekend, plows didn't start until it was over. At some point I gave up on waiting for the plows and enjoyed a few beverages. That was my last day off from running. (total snow fall in Philly that day 22.5 inches, 26+ in some areas.)
Before that day off, my previous streak was 22 days. When I reviewed 2015, I ran about 300 days and was satisfied, but thought about those 65 days off. My goal for 2016, was to fluctuate distance a bit more and less days off. The day after being off, I was so mad that I had to start a new streak. Not sure what my orig goal was, but it not ending on my own terms drove me nuts. Still plenty of snow to shovel, plows worked all day to get the roads ready for the work week. Stepped out that evening (Jan 24, 2016) to get 1 mile. That's when my current streak started.
Weather: anyone that follows my IG/twitter/blog will see that 99% of my runs are all outdoors. Wide range from heat index 110+, wind chill -10, snow, sleet, rain, humidity, all outdoors. I used to love the heat, work on my tan, etc, that was before I was into running. lol... Those are some draining days. Brisk days, precipitation days, sometimes getting out the door is the hardest part. Once you get going, it can really be invigorating! Snow, I mostly see as an inconvenience. I work early, so that means I shovel early. I'm trying not to look at last year's winter training, I know there was more than one long run day that every single step was into solid/crunchy snow. Those long runs felt like quick sand that took forever, hope I don't have to go through that as I train for a spring full. Treadmills: I don't look down on people that use them. To each is own. I just prefer to do it all outdoors. My tread mill runs are when I'm trapped in a hotel in an area that isn't conducive. I know a few tread mill runners that are impressively fast, short and long distances.
Long days: there have been a few. One or two that stick our were when I worked 1st shift, scheduled for 3rd, tried, but no nap in between. After working 3rd shift, I got my marathon training day in before going to a fundraiser 5k walk. Travel day: had to be up before 4, to get to the airport, fly from Philly to Las Vegas, walked 10 miles before checking in, run, than rest. Hiking: depending on my training schedule, I don't make any cuts to my scheduled run. I once ran 10 miles in the morning, then hiked 10 later that day, but got lost twice to make it 15. I'm sure there have been several more long days, these are just a few that stick out.
Speed vs Endurance: I won't admit that streaking has hurt my speed(not that I ever had any). My overall pace may have been better in 2016, but that's before I started trying to be a long distance runner. I blame longer runs (and age) more than I do running every day. lol.. Work in progress, but getting there.
What's next? To be honest, I don't know. When I started streaking, never thought this far down the road. One day, milestone at a time. 50 days, 100 days, 365, 1000, 3 yrs, now what? I follow someone that just hit 10 yrs, and have read articles of people that have streaked over 40 years. I can't imagine that. I just know, I don't have any plans of taking tomorrow off (or the day after that). God willing.
Good luck to everyone with training! Kick some butt!
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