One year ago I made a resolution to run 21 miles every week of 2021. It took 231 runs and over 150 hours but I completed the goal this past Friday.
Before starting all of this I wasn’t a big runner. The idea of running 3 or 5 miles at a time wasn’t that appealing to me, however I was ready to make a commitment to something that tested my self-discipline.
To help with motivation I publicly shared the challenge on all my social media accounts and periodically provided updates as we moved through the year. This ended up being critical to my accomplishment and led to my biggest takeaway of the year.
Each running week would start on Monday and end on Sunday. The key was completing as many miles before the weekend as possible which ended up being difficult for a few reasons.
Scheduling: My wife is a teacher who needs to leave for school by 7am and my son is a recent 1 year old who wakes up between 6:30-7am. I’ll normally feed him, dress him, and get him out the door to daycare. I’m home from work between 5:30-6pm and then it’s bath, bottle, bed for the kid until 7pm, followed by spending time with wife and any night work. This meant that these important during-the-week-miles needed to be run before my son woke up, which required a serious lifestyle and mentality change.
Weather: I learned that running in cold weather is better than warmer weather because you can always add more layers. The humid, dog-days of summer were brutal, especially when I badly rolled my ankle in July. I tried to avoid rain runs as best as I could.
Other: Weeks that included travel or being sick would knock me out of routine and shortened the week. Late nights never helped. And then there were the days I didn’t feel like running.
Despite my best efforts I still had weekends where I needed 10+ miles to keep the streak alive. The weekend offers more flexibility to run but at the expense of other activities. I played very little golf, significantly reduced my time on a mountain bike, and had to take a season off from the local soccer team.
What helped me accomplish this goal was my community who kept me accountable week in and week out. Many ran alongside me, issued encouragement and advice, and shared their doubts. Special shoutout to Annie for believing in me, Logdog for doing 90% of the runs with me, my Strava Kudos Gang, and everyone who engaged with me through it all. Your feedback and support propelled me to the finish.
Now here’s my biggest takeaway of it all — a strong community is required to accomplish big goals. You can’t do it alone.
Take a look at the community around you.
– How will your community help you to achieve your goals?
– How will you grow your community to help you achieve your goals?
– How will you support your community?
It feels good to complete the challenge. For those wondering, I will not be running 22 miles every week of 2022 although I have signed up for an Ultra Spartan Race in March, which involves completing 30 miles and 60 obstacles in a single day. The goal is to finish and not be completely wrecked afterwards.
My new, year-long resolution for 2022 is meditating at least 5 minutes every day. I have not done a lot of meditating in my life but look forward to understanding it better twelve months from now!
Final Running Stats of 2021
– Runs: 231
– Time: 156hrs and 41 mins
– Distance: 1106 miles
– Elev Gain: 50,364 ft
The Birdnest 