The streak - day 182

Runner's World has once again issued their challenge for a summer holiday streak starting today, Memorial Day, and lasting until Independence Day.

Only thing is, I never stopped the last holiday streak.  Last fall I started the Runner's World winter holiday streak between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, and just kept going (I technically started on November 26th for a total of 182 days so far).

Let's take a moment to reflect on the idea of streaking, shall we?

• I love challenges, and this is a relatively simple one.  Minimum one mile of running a day and perhaps an obsessive personality.  That's all it takes to join.  Streaks can be as long or as short as you want them to be.  According to runeveryday.com, there is a guy out there who has been streaking since 1969.
• If I streak for a year, I can get an official certificate from the above website.
• Every run of the streak so far has been outdoors, even through a particularly heinous winter.  I'm aiming to keep it that way for as long as possible.
• I never tracked my mileage before this, and only started on January 1st.  I don't know how many miles I've put in during the entire streak, but since Jan. 1st I have logged 781 miles.  I'm aiming to finish 2014 with 2,014 miles under my belt.
• My original goal was just to streak 2014, but I have a feeling I am going to just keep going into 2015 and beyond.
• I've heard stories of guys running around airports in business attire just to get their mile in.  I haven't gotten that desperate yet, but there have been a few nights when I've waited until bedtime to run a mile, and it was a real struggle to get outside and get it done.  Also, running after a large dinner and/or several adult beverages make for an interesting running experience.
• My big race this spring was my first ultra - a 50k - and I managed to get in the training while maintaining the streak and staying injury free.  I think with streaking, flexibility with your schedule and listening to your body are incredibly important. Moving around runs and shortening runs has allowed me to prevent aches and pains becoming something much worse.
• I have yet to mix streaking with training for a real goal race - one in which I aim for a PR - so I'll be interested to see how that works.
• If you make certain things a priority in your life, you will always find you have more time than you think you do.
• Streaking has encouraged me to think ahead.  It actually becomes easier to schedule runs when thinking of other plans, because I don't have to think, "shoot, am I running that day?"  The answer is yes.  Always yes.
• One of the obvious benefits of streaking is that running becomes a habit that you no longer have to think about.  "Should I run today?"  See above bullet point.  It's just something that you get done every day whether you want to our not.  Kind of like putting on clothes.
• Should you streak?  Sure.  Get out there and see what you're made of, and let's compare notes in 45 years.