Mile a Day – Week 4

I’m running or walking at least a mile each day through Easter. Here’s how I’m doing:

Mar 17 – 6.55 mile run (1st leg of the Seabrook Lucky Trails Marathon Relay!)
Mar 18 – 1.6 mile treadmill walk
Mar 19 – 1 mile treadmill walk
Mar 20 – 1.1 mile treadmill walk
Mar 21 – 1 mile treadmill walk
Mar 22 – 1.2 mile treadmill walk
Mar 23 – 2.3 mile treadmill walk/run

So I’ve done at least a mile per day for 4 weeks in a row now and I am pretty darn impressed with myself! I’ve tried several variations of “do XYZ thing every day for XYZ time period” over the years and I’m not sure I’ve ever been successful for more than a couple weeks. Self-discipline is unfortunately not one of my strengths. So 4 weeks in a row is a true accomplishment!

(Oh! One exception is the deal I made with my dad in 5th grade: if I practiced my flute every day for a month, I could get my ears pierced. Done, and done.)

The only possible downside of my “streak” is that I end up leaving my mile until the very end of the day after Emma’s in bed. Many of my walks are at 9:30 or even 10:00. This means I’ve gotten in the habit of just walking on the treadmill instead of running, since it’s already late and I don’t want to have to cool down, showers, etc before being able to go to bed. So even though I’m covering at least a mile per day, I still haven’t gotten back into decent running shape.

Still, I’m trying to get myself back out there when I can. Last Sunday I did the Seabrook Lucky Trails Marathon Relay with Erin, Nujoud and Lisa. Since Jose’s family was in town and I wanted to head home by 10:00 or so, they nicely let me run the first leg. This had the added bonus of cooler temperatures, although the humidity was still pretty bad. I set my Garmin for a 4/1 run/walk and off I went! Overall, the race went well. I had estimated that I could average 12:00 miles, and I used my watch to keep me on track. I started to get tired around the 5-mile mark but was able to stick with it and finish my 6.55-mile leg in 1:17:30 — just under goal pace! Woo!