I Love a Challenge

Last month I signed up for a challenge on Map My Run. The goal was to run 100 miles in 30 days. It sounds easy enough--that's just an average of 3.3 miles per day. My regular route is 3.4 miles and I usually run 4 miles on the treadmill if go to the Y. When I started running again after my big event, I was running every day unless something very drastic occurred. Finally late this fall, I cut back to 5 or 6 out of 7 days because I was starting to see signs of overtraining. So I thought this challenge would be a piece of cake.

Snow and ice cut into my outdoor running time so I had to go to the Y to run more than I liked. I hate the treadmill. I get bored, even with my headphones on. So I started trying to get the ones that were turned towards to the TV. That helped, but I still find myself watching the display on the treadmill, wondering why it takes so longer to run a mile on the 'mill than it does on the road, even though I have the speed set for a pace that is a full minute faster than I run when outside. Mind tricks. In spite of my grousing, though, there have been some positives. After enough time, I finally got kind of used to it. In the past I always allowed myself to quit running on the treadmill, but this time the challenge pushed me on and finally entered a kind spiritual agreement with the treadmill and my body. Just do it. Get it over with. Set the pace even higher so it's over with sooner. I also met a woman who runs with the local running club and finally got hooked up with them.

Which leads me to the next desperate measure I took in this challenge. Running 4 miles 5 days a week just won't get you to 100 miles in 30 days. Six days a week won't either. So I had to add some longer runs in. The running club goes out on Saturdays and Sundays. Most of them are training for the Boston Marathon, but some members do run shorter distances. So first I went out and ran 5.6 miles by myself to make sure I could do that distance. Then I ran 7 miles. Finally I joined the group and ran 8 miles. And then I started wildly thinking about training for a half marathon.

I made the 100 miles (in fact, I ran 105 miles). Without that challenge in front of me, I never would have tried that. I also wouldn't have pushed myself to run more than 4 miles (or I would have always come up with excuses not to). And I certainly never would have thought about a half marathon.

I signed up again for the 100 mile challenge, but it doesn't seem as daunting right now. I've also challenged my running partner to run every road in our little town. We're working on the logistics of it. There are only 90 miles of town-owned roads here (the rest are owned by the state) so it won't take us a long to complete, but it will take us places we've never been. Can't wait!