runner’s world | The Little GSP

Join me for a Holiday streak by completing a mile a day
from Thanksgiving to New Year’s!

364 days ago I decided it was time to get off the couch and start exercising. I publicly committed to a challenge that seemed pretty manageable… all I had to do was walk, run, elliptical, or otherwise move myself one mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. This challenge really motivated me and I soon learned that it’s actually very easy to squeeze a single mile into my daily routine!

I first read about streaking on a friends blog (thanks Jocelyn!) where I learned that Holiday Streaking is an official Runner’s World challenge. The concept is simple: commit to your mile-a-day and then, once you get into a routine, you’ll be hooked and you will do anything to complete your mile and keep your streak going! The streak is also conveniently timed for the holiday season when we’re all probably drinking and eating a little more than usual so the regular exercise really pays off.

Last year I liked streaking so much that I decided to keep going for 205 consecutive days before taking a break for our honeymoon. I started back up on July 1st and I’m currently on day 144 of my new streak. My second streak acted as sort of a gateway to even more mileage when we got a treadmill in mid-July and I think I’m now officially addicted to running!

Matt and I will be kicking off our Thanksgiving festivities with the Seven Summits 5K Turkey Trot on Thursday morning. I’m really looking forward to the race AND to all of the mashed potatoes and stuffing that I will victoriously eat afterwards. Yum!

Will you streak with me from Thanksgiving to New Year’s?
Declare your intent in the comments below!

Since this is a running post I can’t end without noting my latest running tally… 600 miles is history!

Miles since last post: 90.8
Days since last post: 19
Average Daily Miles since July 18th: 4.83
TOTAL MILES: 614

I don’t usually take part in online challenges but I am making several exceptions this month! Here’s a quick run down of the fun challenges that I will be participating in for December:

1. I’m Going Streaking!!

As a part of the Runner’s World “Streak,” I have committed to run, walk, or elliptical at least 1 mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. I completed my mile for day 12 of the streak this morning and I feel great!

“Streaking” is a big deal for me because, although I was a runner in college, I’ve really done very, very little running since graduating in 2007. I am usually quite content to come home from work and make dinner/watch TV/blog/do anything besides exercise. But all of that has changed since I started my streak on Thanksgiving. Now I actually wake up BEFORE work (something I never would have believed that I’d ever do!) and I elliptical my mile while groggily watching the morning traffic and news. It’s an awesome feeling to come home from work and know that I have already finished my exercising for the day. 🙂

I have to give a quick shout out to Jocelyn from Running Noodle because without Jocelyn I never would have known that the Streak challenge existed. I read Jocelyn’s “Streaking” Post last winter and decided then and there that I would try streaking myself this year. I learned this weekend that streaking is actually a whole blog/twitter/social media “thing” with it’s own hashtag (#RWStreak) so I guess I’ll start tagging my streaking posts from now on!

2. Weekly Photo Challenge: REFLECTION

I kept seeing posts with beautiful “reflection” photos featured in my WordPress reader so I did some investigating and learned that WordPress sponsors a Weekly Photo Challenge. It’s easy to participate so I thought this would be a fun way to add to my December challenges. I think to actually join the challenge properly I need to create a brand new post titled “Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflection” but this post will have to suffice for week 1.

I have two photos featuring reflections for this week. The first (above) is a rare self-portrait of me taking a photo of Bailey via the car’s rear view mirror. She loves car rides! (Ignore my wrinkly forehead… I was thinking hard!) The second (below) is a photo of a Delmarva DockDog named Sam. I love how Sam and his toy are converging with their reflections!

3. 25 Days of Christmas Photo Challenge

Yes, another photo challenge. (When I decide to do something I go all out!) I learned about this photo challenge from Pami at Pa-BLAM. There’s a nice holiday-themed topic for each day and, like Pami, I will probably do a post every 7 days or so with the photos from the previous week. I’m going to have to rely on some holiday photo archives for a few of these though… I mean, I HOPE that I see snow on December 7th but at this point that’s not looking too likely!

OK, well that just about sums up my December challenges. I think that #3 is going to be really fun but overall I am most excited about Streaking. Wish me luck! 🙂