Things that happen on a run streak

30 going on 50

It’s no secret that my training has been going well these past few months.

On Wednesday I hit 30 days of running in a row. Something I’ve never been able to achieve before. Previously any former streaks lasted about 10 days, and I was in enough pain from any of those.

Now I’m not running in any pain. It’s quite the opposite of pain actually, I think the constant running is working for me.

Alison and I finishing up run #30 in my run streak.

Ok so that’s reason to celebrate. But it’s not all back pats, high fives, and free chocolate medals from everyone when you’re on a run streak.

Here are some of the things that I’ve come to realize that actually happen when you’re on a run streak:

1) People get worried.

• They think that something troubling is going on in your life. As in “oh Robyn got in at 5am and vomited all over the floor, and Tracey is on a run streak. There’s something wrong with those two”.
• There’s no need to worry. I’m doing it just because. Just because I feel good, and I’m not injured, so I might as well. Who knows when you’ll be having a such an injury free phase in your training again?

2) You get asked when you’re going to take a rest day, more than you get asked when you’re going for your next run.

• Out of concern, people want you to stop more than continue.
• I think run streaks are only dangerous when you have a pre-determined number of days set. If I just said “I’m going to run for 100 days straight”, I’ll probably have to run through all kinds of ridiculous amounts pain, and have all these expectations from other people.
• In the end, I might have to quit as early as day 15 because my injuries are sending a shock of lightning down my legs with each stride. That would be crazy.
• It’s much safer to take it day by day. So I don’t know when I’m going to rest!

3) People don’t know why you’re doing it, and neither do you actually.

• They ask “why?” a lot, which is justified sometimes, and you don’t always have an answer.
• “Well, the reason is…bye, gotta run!”

4) When you’re not running in pain, people still assume that you are.

• It’s a run streak — people think that you must be depriving your body of rest. It must be agonizing, aren’t you in some kind of pain?
• If you are in pain, I think this is the time to quit.
• The day I feel an unusual pain, or get heavy legs, is the day that I break the streak and rest!

5) You might get addicted.

• Streak or no streak, it’s natural for most runners to wake up most days and think “hello daylight, gotta run!”.
• So aren’t we all addicted in some way? But can you stop when it starts to get dangerous? If you can’t stop running when injured, that’s an addiction that needs breaking.

6) You open yourself up to new methods of training that you’ve previously overlooked.

• In previous years I’ve shunned training sessions like light recovery runs the day after speed work, or a shake out run the day before a race.
• I opted for rest days instead. I was always about fresh legs over slow miles.
• Having this streak in the back of my mind has forced me to try these slow miles that I previously thought were destructive to my training. Instead I’ve found they have the opposite value to my training.

Running in Central Park the day before the North Face race. This is something I never would’ve attempted as little as a year ago.

It’s probably no coincidence that this streak also tied into starting a new job… my first job working in an office in about a year.

Why? A huge part of the reason why I run is to neutralize the social anxiety that I get in an office environment. I have a lot to talk about there, but I’ll get into that some other time. But ultimately, I’m a lot more relaxed and able to do my job more if I do some form of exercise first thing in the morning.

Now that I’ve hit 30 days (as of today I’m on 32) I’ll loosely aim for 50. But remember, aiming for a number is dangerous. So really, I’ll continue to take it day by day ;)