Today Was A Badass Day

I didn’t plan on running 12 miles today.

But I did.

I didn’t wake up at my usual 4 a.m. today.

Last night I was so exhausted, I knew I had to listen to my body.

It needed rest.

So I slept until 6:30.

I got a good eight hours of sleep.

It’s the first time I slept that long in a while.

So I was off my usual workout schedule right off the bat.

And Thursday is therapy day — I see my therapist every Thursday at 9 a.m. — so there would be no working out until I got home later in the morning.

Back in November one of the women in my current e-course shared that she was going to start a running challenge on Thanksgiving. It was shared in another Facebook group she’s in, but the challenge is to run a mile a day starting on Thanksgiving all the way through New Years Day. That would be forty days of running, and a good way to establish running as a habit.

I told her I’d do it with her.

I missed a day in November, but I was on track heading into December.

Then in December I gave this challenge to the women in my current course:

So it wasn’t a one-size-fits-all challenge.

I encouraged the women to come up with their own goals.

Some women chose a certain number of steps each day. Some are aiming for a total number of steps for the month.

Some are going for miles per day, and others are going for a total number of miles for the month.

I was doing well with the running a mile a day for the most part, and I still have that goal of breaking four hours in a marathon, so I wanted to really challenge myself.

I set my goal at 100 miles of running for December.

That averages out to 3.23 miles per day if I want to hit 100 miles on December 31st.

I made a tracker/calendar in my bullet journal.

I was in Long Island for a swim meet with Number 4, 5 and 7 this past weekend, and although I packed enough workout clothes to get me through a one week vacation, I just didn’t have time to get any running in being alone with the three girls and having three different sessions to watch/coach and get the girls to.

So I did absolutely nothing on Saturday and Sunday.

On my calendar I write down the number of miles I run, the time it took me, the average pace per mile, and my mile splits.

In purple I have the running total for how much I should be running to stay on track.

The green number is how much I’ve actually done.

Going into today, I should have had 41.99 miles logged.

When I woke up this morning, I had 30.24.

I was 11.75 miles behind.

This was really bothering me.

A LOT.

Because I did not want to fall short on this challenge.

I want to end 2018 with a bang.

Like a badass.

And with my new commitment to staying on top of things at home and keeping the kitchen clean, having things hanging over my head is just not really okay with me anymore.

I had to catch up.

And I was going to catch up today.

So I posted in the Facebook group and told the Ladies that I was gonna do 11.75 miles today.

The longest distance I’ve run since in the past two months is five miles.

I wasn’t mentally prepared to do all that running at once.

I told myself I was going to break it up into three runs, and that I’d update everyone with my progress.

Now it was out there.

I didn’t want to look like a quitter, either.

I decided I’d start with five miles. I wanted to get more than a third of it done so the next two runs could be shorter.

I felt great, and I had the best run I’ve had in a while.

I descended every mile, averaged 10:28/mile, and for the first time in a long time ran a sub ten minute mile.

I checked in with the ladies in the group, shared my progress, drank a protein shake, ate an apple with peanut butter, emptied and loaded the dishwasher, and headed out for round 2.

This time I decided to do four miles.

That would leave me with less than three to do on the final run.

I challenged myself to hold a faster average than the first run.

I still felt surprisingly awesome on the second run.

I think more than five hours of sleep the night before may have something to do with that!

I didn’t just have one sub-ten minute mile.

I averaged under ten minutes/mile.

I haven’t done that in years!!!

The daily running is for sure paying off!!!

I finished up the second run just as Number 3 and 4 came home from school.

“Did you just go for a run, Mom?” Number 4 asked.

“Yep,” I told her.

“How far did you run?” she asked.

“Nine miles,” I told her. “So far.”

“NINE MILES???” she asked, surprised.

I told her about what I was doing and how I had 2.75 miles left to go, and I told her I was going to finish before the little guys got home from school.

I threw on a fresh shirt and pants and a dry hat, and I went out for the final leg.

It was about 29° (F) and lightly snowing on and off, and while it took me a little while to warm up each time, I love running in that weather.

I had planned on just doing 2.75 miles.

And I was going to run easy and just warm down.

But I got to about 2.6 miles, and I decided I wanted to push myself.

If I went under ten minutes on the last mile of the first two runs, I was going to do the same on this run.

Which meant I’d need to do three full miles.

So I ran three miles.

I hadn’t just caught up to my running totals so far.

Now I was ahead.

I was tired, but I felt AWESOME.

I was about three tenths of a mile from home, and I was going to walk easy and cool down.

I took a picture to share with the group.

And when I looked up, I saw this:

It was Number 4.

She was going for a run, too.

Seeing that felt almost as good as getting caught up on my challenge did.

Your kids are watching you!

So this is your sign.

There are just over two weeks left in this year.

You do not have to wait to kick some ass.

You can start right now.

If you are behind today, you can catch up today.

You just gotta take that first step, whether it’s a literal step out the door, or the first step toward whatever it is you want to do.

And then just keep taking steps.

You can do it. I know you can.

Because if I can do it, then you can totally do it, too.

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