Unbeknownst to Justin Bower, he created an event to celebrate my running streak.
- Did he know about my streak? Not a chance
- Did he care? Doubtful
On 1/17/20 I headed up to Fairfax Virginia and attended a www.therunningclinic.com seminar. During that seminar one of the things that we learned about running and injury prevention was that, the more days you run the less likely you are to be injured. That's not to say you should engage in a running streak, it just means that if you are going to run 30 miles in a week, you are better off running those miles over 5 or 6 days than 3, that a more regular load/stress on the body is better than periodic stress. I took this as an opportunity to start a streak.
My running buddy, James Decker, had run 32 days in a row, so I wondered how many I could do. The most days I've run in a row, tend to be around a vacation, when we adventure and explore new areas. This would maybe be 10 or so days in a row, at most 12. By no means a steak.
I remembered a Jeff Roes article on www.irunfar.com disscussing his running streak attempt. Until I started mine, I just assumed it would end in a similar fashion as Jeff's. But then there was Covid and more stress and uncertainty. There was a drive to keep the streak going, something to focus on and something in my control. Somehow, running, less races, and a streak put me at being able to get 3000 miles in 2020 (probably the only time I'll reach this level). I did the math in early December and noted that by running an extra a bit over 300 miles for the month, or what would amount to, 10 miles a week, I could hit the 3000 mile mark (about 400 more than any other year). So I put in the time and finished up with 3013.
My streak rules are;
- at least 2 miles
- have to be outdoors
- under 14 minute pace. This is for the post ultra shuffle to count as a run.
In just under another month I should hit the 2 year mark. I plan to run the Chaos Mtn 50k again as a "celebration" of the streak. I have no predetermined mark I want to hit. I'm mainly going until I feel like it's "time" to quit. At this point I'm interested in what will be the thing that makes me stop.
This Fall had some hurdles that I thought might end things. The schedule ended up having 7 races, plus covid, in 12 weeks;
7/24/21 - Catherine's 50k
8/14/21 - Jarmans 50k
8/14 - 8/24 Covid
9/3 & 9/4 - The Rut VK and 28k
10/1 & 10/2 - The Broken Arrow VK and 50k
10/11/21 - The Boston Marathon
Although some performance suffered in there, the races went well and made for an unforgettable end to the racing year. I don't recommend running a mountainous VK and 28k 2 weeks after covid or the Boston Marathon 9 days after a mountainous 50k, but if you do, do it in the Fall!
What will end the streak?
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