I started the first day of the new year with a 3.1 mile walk/hike with my roommate and one of our friends in our COVID circle at our local art museum park. I’ve always heard that on January 1st you should do something you enjoy, something to set the tone for the new year. There couldn’t be anything more perfect than a walk at one of my favorite places with friends.
This was the start of our one mile run/ walk streak for the year. The goal is to run or walk at least one mile per day on each day of the year. Of course, we could make it a run streak, but we thought that it would be much better mentally to allow for walks too. I know that as soon as things get hard or I’m feeling under the weather, the pressure of running one mile would cause me to break the streak. With walking, I am better able to motivate myself to continue.
On January 2nd, we did a quick run/walk for a mile near our apartment complex. I think this is what a lot of busy weekdays will look like this year, but the beauty of this challenge is that it is getting me active for just that one mile.
Sunday January 3rd was my weekly long run with my friends from a running group I joined last January. We have been running together socially distanced, which has been super motivating for me. We did 4 miles at Anderson Point Park. The trails were flooded from the rain we had, so we had to turn around at certain points to avoid flooding but it was so nice to be out on a long run.
Monday January 4th was my first day back at work in the new year so it was a longer day, so we just did a mile around my apartment. We have about a .4 mile loop so we do it about 2.25 times to get one mile.
On January 5th, we went to some well lit neighborhoods after work and did sprint/ walk intervals. 30 seconds sprint, 1 minute walk with a 5 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down. We finished the cool down and wanted to keep running until we reached 3 miles so my final time for the workout was 37 minutes, 4 seconds.
On Wednesday January 6th, we walked from our apartment to pick up takeout. I don’t consider it cheating because normally we would drive, so the challenge motivated us to walk. We were using the time we had to both pick up dinner and complete our daily mile.
My mom met up with me for a walk at Shelley Lake on Thursday January 7th, which was super nice. We only did about a mile because parts of the trail were closed due to flooding, and it was getting dark.
Friday January 8th was rainy and wintery mix here, so that morning we woke up early to run a mile at our apartment complex gym. I had not been on a treadmill since February of 2020 so it felt weird, but I was reminded that I like that treadmills help me keep pace. Otherwise, I really love outdoor running and prefer it to the treadmill.
Running Reading Lattes 