G.O.H.A.R.D. and a Run Streak….

 

Do you know what today is?  It is “Globally Organized Hug A Runner Day”!  or G.O.H.A.R.D for short…. To some, this may sound silly.  To others it means something.  I’m one of those people.

I started running at the beginning of this year.  I’ve blogged quite a bit about it, it has been quite the journey.  I actually started running to lose weight.  I’d like to say I’ve lost 100 pounds since then, but, I have very successfully eaten ALL of the calories I’ve burned LOL…  Apparently you can’t out run a bad diet and I REALLY REALLY love food.    So, WHY in the WORLD am I still running?

Easy.  I like Runners.

Runners are some of the happiest, friendliest people I’ve ever met.

Runners are very good at encouraging each other.

Runners are not normal.

Runners tend to do weird stuff like have color thrown on them and crawl through mud for fun.

Runners compete and compete hard.  But, they are competing against themselves, and so are still able to encourage their fellow competitors

Runners like to live outside the box.

These are my people….

Has running gotten easier?  Yes.  Am I as far in my training as I’d like to be?  No.  Are there days when I want to throw the whole towel in and never run again?  Yes.  Am I glad when I force myself out the door and go for a run?  Yes!

When I began this journey at the beginning of the year I had no idea if I would even become a runner.  I committed to a 3 week program.  That was it.  I decided if I couldn’t do that program I would let it go.  If I did complete the program I’d decide where to go from there.  As I write this my 2012 mileage is 357 miles!!!!  I am in awe of that number and really beginning to think on my goals for 2013.  I’m also in the end stages of training for my second Half Marathon.  As my body becomes weary from the training I know I have to begin formulating my next goal.

Here it is:

JANUARY RUN STREAK 2013!!!!!

I’m hoping you’ll join with me as we kick the new year off right….

We will use facebook to encourage each other, because that is one of the things I love the most about Runners

Here’s how it will work:

Sign up and commit to run EVERY.SINGLE.DAY in January.  January 1-31.  Every day.

It does NOT matter how far you run each day

It does NOT matter how fast you run

It does NOT matter how long you run

The ONLY thing that matters is you lace up your shoes every single day in January.

There will be two levels of commitment-  Free and Medal ($10)

I find that if I have a medal I am more committed, but some people don’t need that to keep them going.  I also really, really like bling, and I think running every day for 31 days deserves some bling

If you are new to running, or thinking about running this is perfect for you.  One of the biggest rewards of running is setting a goal and reaching it.  It doesn’t matter how big your goal is because it’s yours.  This is a goal for you.  If you are new, you might say you’re going to run around your block every day.  Or you’re going to run for 5 minutes.  Or set a goal to ultimately run 10 straight minutes.  Whatever your goal, set it and achieve it!

For me, I know that I’m coming out of a long training season, and I’ll be racing a Half Marathon December 22 and a 5K December 23, and I’ll be taking a few days off for some much deserved rest.  I will admit to you that I’m a little more excited about this rest period than I am comfortable with, and that is why I will be doing this run streak.  Come January 1 I need to get back in the game before my rest becomes a long winter’s slumber

I hope you’re as excited about this as I am.  I’m working with a supplier now to get the medals produced, and as soon as I have the work up I’ll reveal it to you!

Sign ups will begin Friday, November 23 and will run Through December 22.  Medals will be shipped by Mid January.

Let’s do this thing!