I made it!

368 days ago was the last day that I have not run a mile or more. That sounds like a long time ago. I didn’t think that I would be able to keep going for that entire year.
Saturday was the day I completed my year. A year! If feels like a figment of my imagination that I actually did this, but I did it. I ran a mile or more every day for a year.

There were days I didn’t want to do it. My friend Erik and I would discuss our list of excuses.
1.  It is too hot (I have not been thinking this much lately)
2.  It is too cold
3.  I am too tired
4.  I am too busy
5.  I just don’t feel like it
6.  My running clothes are dirty
7.  I forgot my running shoes
8.  My running shoes are getting too old
9.  I don’t want to run by myself
10.  I don’t have my music to listen to
11.  It is too dark
12.  It is too icy
13.  It is raining too hard

And the list can go on and on. I am really good at coming up with excuses, however, I didn’t let those things hold me back. I kept going and still have not stopped.

Thank you to everyone who helped encourage me to move past those excuses that numbered many more than the small list that I made here.

Thank you Erik for encouraging me to start and try this for just 10 days… just 10 days he said…

Thank you to my kids who occasionally came with me and cheered me on every day.

Thank you to the many other friends and family who encouraged me.

Thank you especially to my boyfriend, Randy. Thank you for helping me make this a priority to take care of myself, even when I am looking for any excuse to just sit back but you remind me of why I am doing this. Thank you for helping me with this and many other things. Thank you! I love you and I look forward to our journey together and various adventures together.

One year down and I do not plan to stop but it is one day at a time, working through those excuses to get out there and keep moving.

Making a new path

Tonight as I prepared to go out for my mile and complete day 359 I knew I had to put on my many layers and my lights but also some traction on my shoes. Last night’s run was on almost clear pavement with only a few patches of ice. All day the sky was dumping more of that crazy white stuff into the ground. I would guess another six inches or so of snow have fallen.

I was not real excited about going out in the cold and snowy weather and I kept putting it off, finding even the simplest of excuses. Maybe if I wait a little longer the snow will stop… maybe my daughter wants to snuggle for a bit… I will just watch a little more of this show… maybe the snow plows will come through if I give them a little more time…

Finally no more excuses.

The snow was deep and even in spots you couldn’t see where the sidewalk could be found.

I chose to stick to the road, for most of my run, as the cars had packed down some of the newly fallen snow.

During the small time I went down the sidewalk, or what I thought was the sidewalk, my shoes were covered.

After that little bit I looked back at the path I had left behind.

This year’s journey has been a new path for me. A path of changes. A path of figuring out more of who I am and who I want to be. It has been a year of looking forward instead of just to the past. It has been a year of growing more confident in who I am.

As I finished off my run tonight a song came on that really spoke to me about my journey. I turned it up as I finished my mile and even went further with my head held high wanting to belt out some of the lyrics. If you haven’t heard the song, look it up and take a listen. If you have, look it up anyway and take a listen again. “This is me” from The Greatest Showman.

Here are just a few of the lyrics:

I am not a stranger to the dark
Hide away, they say
‘Cause we don’t want your broken parts
I’ve learned to be ashamed of all my scars
Run away, they say
No one’ll love you as you are

But I won’t let them break me down to dust
I know that there’s a place for us
For we are glorious

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I’m gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I’m meant to be, this is me
Look out ’cause here I come
And I’m marching on to the beat I drum
I’m not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is meRunning has helped me find me. I am brave. I am strong. I am who I’m meant to be. Running has helped me find my new path.

What could have been a cold depressing run was an empowering and good run.

New Year’s Resolution

Welcome to 2019!

I think that the start of a new year causes people to think a lot about the year that just wrapped up and think about the year that is about to come. 2018 was a good year. There were ups and downs but overall it was a good year. I started dating a great man that loves me and my kids as I continued my running journey and navigating through the year.

But it is halfway through February, why am I talking about New Year’s Resolutions? Well, just about a year ago I made a resolution of sorts, not intending it to last an entire year, it was only going to be ten days. I stopped making “New Year’s Resolutions” a while back. I always found that I could never stick with the whatever my resolution was very long. If I can’t make it the entire year, why even set a resolution?

As I approach the year mark of my running a mile or more every day, I have been thinking about getting through this year and how it has changed me. What started as a simple ten day challenge, turned into more and more days. I think a resolution for a year is too big of a commitment at times. I think that may be why I have never been good at sticking with “New Year’s resolutions”. When trying to make a change, I often think of it in too big of a chunk of time. Committing to make a change for an entire year is a bit daunting. Making a change for ten days is within reach. I can try something for ten days. And I did try something for ten days and look where it has gotten me. I have now completed 353 days of running a mile or more every single day.

Maybe we need to get rid of “New Year’s resolutions” altogether and focus on the small concrete things that we can do in smaller timeframes.

As I think back about my running over the past few years, I would get overwhelmed by the runs that sounded really long, like going for a 12-mile run. That sounds like a really far way to go (and it is). But if I would let myself get overwhelmed by that, I may not even complete it. I found that for myself I needed to break that up in to smaller chunks. I would tell myself it is just six sets of two miles. I knew I could run two miles (some days that was a struggle too but sounded a lot more achievable). I still did the six sets at the same time but six sounded a lot more achievable than 12!

In the same way, I had to have someone else tell me that a year was too long to commit to with making a change in my life like running every day. I started my first ten days, did a few and then I failed. I missed a day. But I did not dwell on that. I tried again. I looked at those ten days and knew I could accomplish it and then I did. And from there the time grew and grew. Having completed the ten days gave me more motivation to keep going. I was successful in what I put my mind to, so I wanted to keep going. I have tried to just take it one day at a time and before I knew it, I was at day 100, day 200 and then now on the verge of hitting my one-year mark.

So, what else can I accomplish by taking it in a smaller chunk of time?

In the past when I attempted a “New Year’s Resolution” and failed, it meant I didn’t need to restart until the next year. Resolutions are no longer related to “New Year’s” but are a daily thing. They can start any day, for any period of time. For me, it was a ten-day resolution that even though I didn’t make it all ten days the first time, I picked myself back up and started over. Each day it has been a choice to get out there and run. Every day is a choice to focus on that one day getting done what I need to, even on days when I don’t completely feel like it.

What positive change can you make in your life? Don’t focus on a year of making that change, but just a day at a time.

Find a timeframe that works for you to make that positive change. It may be something you repeat for a year, a month, a week or even just at a day.