Run streak

I'm becoming somewhat of a hermit runner. And I like it.

My run streak is now at 55 days. I've officially covered 228.66 miles since I started running every day on November 11.

Sure, that's not a long stretch by any means. However, I note it now because I anticipated stopping at the end of the year. I've never been a cold-weather runner outdoors. Shoot, I don't think I've ever even run when it was under 50F (yes, I've started runs below that, but then it warmed up!).

I now find running in the 20s and 30s invigorating. Plus, the main reason I haven't stopped yet is... because I'm afraid to! For starters, I'm afraid I just won't start again. Plus, I'm afraid I will go insane if I can't do this.

Someone somewhere would likely say I've lost my mind already. Most of the day I'm a bundle of nerves, a grump, an idiot, you name it... but then I get to my run-time. I honestly can't explain how freeing it is to start off down the street, head down the greenway, meet the river... and I'm gone. It's my best self. Unfortunately no one else is there to see it. Though that just might ruin it!

Perhaps the best new habit I've stacked onto my running is counting seven things I'm thankful for on every outing. This was a result of the '12 Days of Christmas' challenge. At some point during a run I literally count my blessings - to seven. Sometimes I keep going. Perhaps this is what keeps ME going. At the least it adds to the joy.

I don't know. It makes no sense to me. I've never been a cold-weather person. I've never liked running outside in the winter. I never imagined you could work up a sweat when it is 20 degrees outside! But it's honestly been my salvation lately.

I don't know how much longer it will go. I am planning to get some sheet metal screws for an old pair of shoes so I can navigate ice and snow, but I've still never encountered single digits. So we'll see. 

I am currently doing around 3-4 miles of running and another mile or two of walking each day. Some days it's been more and some less. It's been at least a mile every day, outside, and most days it's at least a 5k. I can't imagine I'll make it through the entire winter, and at some point in the Spring I will need to start upping mileage and building in rest days. Until then, though... I'm just going to keep running. Alone. Restoring my soul. That's how I've been making it through these past couple months.

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"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul." - Psalm 23:1-2