Pardon My Streaking!

Well, I've decided to go streaking again! Say what?! Oh, perhaps I should clarify, RUN STREAKING that is! If you aren't familiar with run streaking, this post will give you all the streaking deets!

After successfully completing the 2013 Runner's World Run Streak Summer Challenge, I've decided to give it a go again this year! The RW Run Streak Summer Challenge is to run at least a mile every day from Memorial Day (May, 26) to Independence Day (July, 4), for a total of 40 consecutive days of running. Today marks a week into the streaking madness, and while it isn't always easy, I find that I am more motivated to run when I set a challenge for myself. If you are interested in streaking with me (run streaking of course lol), and didn't start on Memorial Day, it's not too late to do this challenge. My advice would be to just add on the extra days you missed after The Fourth of July, and you can be a RW Run Streak Finisher too!

My 2013 RW Run Streak Finisher Badge

Like last year's challenge, I do have stipulations set for myself. In the event of injury/illness, I will discontinue the streak, because it's better/smarter to be healthy rather than hobble through a challenge. Fingers crossed that doesn't deter me though! I embarked on the RW Run Streak Summer Challenge for the first time last year because of two reasons:

1. Serious need of motivation!
2. I had never, not even in the competitive running years, done a run streak challenge before!

This year, my reason is my need for motivation once again. For me, the summer time is my LEAST FAVORITE time of the year to run. I know, that's the opposite of most people. It gets pretty hot and humid during the summer where I live, and I'm just not a huge fan of running in the heat. It makes it hard for me to want to be out there when the air conditioning seems so nice lol. By doing this challenge I'm motivated to still get my runs in even though I don't particularly enjoy the super hot temperatures. The RW Run Streak makes my summer running better because of the end goal in mind. In addition, I'm currently in training mode for the Run Disney Tower of Terror 10-Miler, which takes place in October at Walt Disney World (my favorite place!). The last few longer races I've done have been in the winter, so my summer training this year is very important with an early fall distance race!

After finishing Day 7 of the RW Run Streak!

I am also a goal oriented person and I enjoyed embarking in last year's run streak challenge. It wasn't always easy and it was even hard to get out there and run on certain days, but it was fun to work toward a goal! The social media community for the run streak challengers is great! The running community is generally very supportive and a special group I'm proud to be part of, so having encouragement from my fellow runners all over the world during this challenge is very motivating! Last year was actually the very first time in all my years of running that I ran that many days in a row! I liked being able to do something I'd never done and this year I'm ready to do something out of my typical comfort zone once again.

As the RW Run Streak stipulates, it only has to be at least a mile every day to finish the summer challenge. As I did in 2013, I am taking the same approach this year. On days that are generally my rest days, I do an easy mile instead. While it certainly isn't easy to even just do a mile on the days I usually rest, it's doable and keeps me focused. Often times I have to make sure I run my mile at an easy pace because typically when I do shorter runs, I want to go faster! This was something I dealt with during last year's challenge, and am hopeful that I can have a better time with the easier days this year!

Every runner is different and personally, I am a huge proponent of having rest days. I don't think I'd want to do a longer streak, but the summer challenge is a good way for me to really stay motivated to keep running as well as build my base back to a stronger place. Again, I encourage you to join me on this challenge! If you are a fellow RW Run Streak summer challenger, let me know how you are doing in the comments below. Thank you and happy (run) streaking! For more information on the RW Run Streak, click here.