Day 100 #runstreak

Just after Christmas each year, when the turkey dinner and the Boxing Day excesses have settled (burp), my thoughts turn to the New Year and what resolutions I might make. The usual 'I need to lose weight' one was in there again, along with a few of the other usual suspects which I think everyone decides upon only to get a week into whatever it is and give up.
This year, I wanted to see if I could do something a bit different. After taking 15 months out from 'training' starting in October 2010 and finishing in December 2011 to get myself healthy after my spectacular burnout resulting in adrenal exhaustion, I was getting itchy feet again. I love running, always have, and have ran since the age of 11 in some capacity or other. Admittedly, I went through a few years when the only running I did was for 70mins on a hockey pitch, twice a week. Then for a few years when I retired from hockey in my early thirties sometimes I ran only once a week, sometimes only once a month. However, running has always been a constant in my life. I've always known it would be there. Whether I'm running flat out for 5K or plodding myself through a painful 26.2miles, I'm happiest with a pair of trainers on my feet.
So I wondered if I could run every day for a year, ending with a big finale of 12 marathons in 12 days in the twelfth month of the twelfth year. I'm still wondering to be honest.

I've reached 100 days of running today. I've done something like 97 hours and just over 600 miles. It sounds a lot but if you break down the stats, it's not really that impressive. It works out at less than an hour, and around 10K or running per day. However, in reality some days have been a lot more, some a lot less. I set out originally to do a minimum of 30mins per day but this didn't really happen. Sometimes I was doing a 5K TT or my weekly tempo of 3.4miles which ended up being less than 30mins.. I decided pretty early on that I'd just run every day regardless of time or distance.

I wish I'd blogged more often over the last 100 days to give a bit of an insight as to what it's like to run every day. After the first 3 weeks it became a bit of a habit and instead of my immediate thought on waking in the mornings being 'oh god, do I *really* have to run?' I'd just get my kit on and go on automatic pilot.
Of course starting on the 1st of Jan coincided with some of the coldest and iciest conditions we've seen here for a while. We've had a few bad Winters over the last few years with dreadful snowfalls, but I've never experienced cold like the Winter just gone. Typically I'd be wearing a buff over my head which I then covered with a woolly hat, another buff on my neck pulled up over my mouth to warm the intake of cold air, 2 long base layer tops, 2 technical t-shirts, one windproof hi-viz jacket, gloves, long tights and woolly socks. A lot of the time I'd get home and have a frozen face and quite often would lose the feeling in my legs and fingers. Most of the first few weeks were pretty grim indeed. Thanks to my purchase of a pair of Yaktrax, I didn't have to resort to going to the gym and running on the dreadmill. Oddly enough, I managed to avoid the gym for 94 days but had to succumb 6 days ago due to the wildest day ever with horizontal rain and gale force winds and my need to get some quality tempos/interval sessions in.

I've got my first marathon of the year in 4 weeks time. I have no time targets in mind and my ultimate goal is to just enjoy the day.

Here's to the next 100 days!