On December 1st, I set out to run at least 1 mile (and up to 26.2 miles) every single day. 31 days and a lot of dirty laundry later, and I really want to do it all again. Yet, I know it might not be the smartest goal. One of my resolutions is to run down PRs in the half and full marathons and while, yes, that will include a lot of running, it also requires smart running. Sometimes smart running means cross training, a day off before a killer speed workout, or a day off for recovery.
On the flipside, I learned something during my December running streak (that shouldn’t be surprising and yet, somehow is…): the more I run, the better I run. Maybe it’s confidence, maybe it’s living my passion, or maybe it’s that the more I run, the more I get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
With all that said, the running streak died, somewhat unintentionally. On Sunday, we drove back from LA and promptly hit the couches for a blissful day of laziness.
My legs were sore (ironically, from wearing heels on New Year’s Eve, NOT the intense nine mile tempo run I’d done the morning prior…), and I was making my way out of a post-champagne fog. I took a late afternoon nap, waking up after the sun had set and instead of going for a nighttime run, I said to hubby: “You wanna do some yoga?”
So we popped in my new yoga DVD and stretched it out, which was awesome. At first, Sully wanted in on our floor time, but quickly realized we weren’t on the floor to play, so he sat back, curiously watching us, and occasionally rolling around on the floor, mimicking us. Afterwards, we went for a nice, little nighttime walk as a family, which was also super awesome.
Yesterday, I returned from a six-miler and found myself saying the same thing to hubby: “You wanna do some yoga?” And so we did. This time, we picked a more challenging, core-focused sequence, and again, finished feeling awesome. It was then that an idea popped into my ambitious, goal-oriented, challenge-loving mind:
I should do yoga every day this month.
Now, you might remember that doing yoga once a week is one my New Year’s Resolutions–AND that I said it might be one of my most challenging goals for the year. So, yeah, committing to a 31 day yoga streak is pretty darn ambitious, but, of course, I’m going to do it.
From January 1st through 31st, I will do (at least 20 minutes of) yoga every day!
As for my running streak revelation: I’m going to continue running to my heart’s content. One of the things I loved best about the running streak was that there was no internal debate about whether or not to run. So, when in doubt, my plan is to just do it–even if it’s only one mile.
January Yoga Streak: Day #3!
2012 Running Mileage: 9.1 miles
Countdown to Carlsbad Marathon: 19 days!
Do you yoga? Have you ever done an exercise streak?
