October 20, 2020

Walk Streak: Day 100!

I'm just going to do a short recap of exercise this week. I had no idea that it's already 9:45 PM! Here is my "progress photo" for the end of four weeks of my Cookies Fall Hard Challenge.


I'm wearing heavier clothes now, because of the colder weather, so it's harder to see any difference. I may pick a more form-fitting outfit to wear every Tuesday morning in order to see any changes better.

The weather was pretty rainy for a few days this week, which made me tempted to skip my morning walk; but Joey is SO used to going that I just didn't have the heart. Also, I'm on a long walking streak... 

Today marks 100 days of walking a minimum of 80 minutes per day! The first 75 days, I walked 45+ minutes twice a day; and ever since then, I have walked in the mornings for 5+ miles (taking roughly 85 minutes, give or take). A few times, I've walked even farther--my longest being nearly 8.5 miles.

Even when I was running regularly, I never had a run streak like this. I didn't really believe in run streaks (because of fear of injury). Even now, if I was running, I would definitely take rest days. But with walking, I don't feel I need rest days. I just walk very easy sometimes when I feel I need to.

A couple of days ago, I was out for my morning walk and as I approached the last half mile or so, I just had this spontaneous feeling of wanting to run. So, I started running. It felt a little awkward, considering I had Joey on a leash and I hadn't run in a very long time so my legs felt rusty. However, I felt MUCH better than I expected to.

When I got home, I saw that my pace was about two minutes per mile slower than I'd thought, hahaha. It was 11:45-ish. I could have sworn I was running at about a 10:00 pace, considering it was only half a mile.

Yesterday, it was raining for my entire walk. When I looked outside in the morning, I was so mad that it wasn't just sprinkling, but raining. I was already freezing and the thought of walking in the cold rain sounded miserable. But Joey was more than ready. I just decided to go and get it over with. 

(You might be wondering why I don't just go later in the day... I feel like I have to do it in the morning or I won't do it at all. Besides, the forecast predicted rain all day anyway.)

After a mile and a half or so, I started walking faster--knowing that the faster I went, the sooner I'd be done and out of the rain. Then it occurred to me to try running for a mile. So, when my watched beeped that I hit two miles, I started running and I ran until I hit mile three, and then walked again. Call me crazy, but I actually decided to run my fifth mile as well! I don't know what came over me.

I think I did it partly to see if I could, but partly because it just sounded good to me. It's so weird! I still prefer walking for sure, but if I ever get the urge to run a little, I'll go for it. I felt really happy with myself when I was done.

My pace was slow--12:15-ish for each of the miles I ran--but just the fact that I was able to run them (and still feel good!) was a big deal. I think that all of the walking definitely helped me.


I'm super excited to have hit 100 days--I wasn't aiming for it, but now that I have this streak going, I just don't want to stop :)


3 comments:

  1. Melissa RichardsonOctober 21, 2020

    You are rocking it! My dogs are definitely what keeps me walking. I walk after work, right before dinner. The dogs get so excited! They will even start whining around the time we go if I am on the couch or doing something else. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kudos to you! You look happy and fit!

    ReplyDelete
  3. In 2018 I started the Runner's World holiday run streak (at least one mile a day), it's supposed to go from Thanksgiving to New Year's (I'm sure you've heard of it). Well, I was so excited to start that I decided to start on Nov. 1. When January 2nd came around, I had 63 days or something, and thought, why not? And continued. When I was approaching a year, I thought, I'll end then. But then Nov. 1 came and I thought, why not go for a run every single day in 2019, so I kept going. And then Jan 1, 2020 happened, and I didn't stop. I just hit 2 years Oct. 31, and I was going to stop, but 731 days is a lot, and I couldn't stop. I find that the higher the number is, the less likely I am to stop intentionally.

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