Nearly every month, especially since I've been bullet journalling (yes, I'm one of those bitches), I have set some kind of do-this-every-day-this-month challenge. I've done yoga streaks, meditation streaks, morning pages, no-snooze for 30 days. Sometimes I am amazing and destroy the challenge. Other times, like last month, I said I'd do strength training like 3 times a week - not even everyday - and managed two times... for the entire month.
I sucked at strength training in July.
This month I decided to pick up my running habit again. I've been running pretty regularly for the past 10 years, with the exception of the year I did my masters degree, but we don't speak of that. I've done run streaks before (at least 1 mile everyday), so I thought what if I do 2 miles everyday in August - no more, no less - to get myself Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit? Seems reasonable, right?
I'd trained pretty hard for a marathon relay in which I ran 8.3 miles at my fastest pace ever outside of sprint drills - a lightning 8:30/mile pace. Scorching. So scorching, my foot started feeling a little tender when I was barefoot in the house after that race. Long, boring saga short, I basically stopped running ever since then (end of May this year). I had an x-ray done a few weeks ago which showed nothing wrong, and my foot's not hurt since.
So, I says to myself, I says, it time for you to get back into running. You love it and you do miss it sometimes. So here we are with this great 2-miles-everyday idea.
Fun fact! I live in a place with a month-long festival every August that I love to frequent. There is beer, fried food and so many late nights. Fun fact part deux! The first couple days of this month, I attended a badass conference for work - also with beer and late nights! Fun fact part tres! I completed day 1 successfully, but after not getting to bed until midnight-ish, I decided to skip the morning run on day 2. And was way too tired to knock it out after the conference.
So here I am on day 4 of this challenge, and I've already fucked it up. I cannot get the 31-day, domininatrix-of-challenges credit I envisioned on July 30 or whenever I had this brain fart. I set a goal that has so many opportunities for failure built in, that I cocked it up on day fucking 2.
Guess what, hot shot. I got up and ran on day 3. Because that's where the magic happens or some bullshit. That's where you grow. When you fail and still go do the thing you said you'd do anyway.
But I'm honestly not in this for personal growth. I started gaining weight and I don't want to go up a size, so I'm going to continue to hoof it everyday I'm not puking from a hangover. Speaking of, I've got drinking plans in a couple hours and need to get day 4's 2 miles done first. Byeeee.
UPDATE: August 9
I didn't do the day 4 run. In fact, I've only done two more runs since day 4. And I don't expect to run again until Monday, because I find the idea exhausting, let alone actually going to do it.
So I'm going to update the challenge somehow. Unclear how, other than it will involve running less. Or I just won't have a challenge. Shrug emoji.