25 Miles of Running - December's Goal

I like to run. I don't love it. I'm not great at it. But I like doing it enough that I enjoy 5k's and sometimes think about running 10k's. At the beginning of the year, before I left for this job, I crammed in about four different 5k's in a span of three months. It was really fun. I even conned one of my non-runner friends to do a few with me. And hey! She liked it, too.

Once I got out to Wyoming, I kind of forgot about running. I was going to the gym regularly and doing the elliptical or exercise bike, but due to my hatred of treadmills (it just doesn't feel natural!), I wasn't really doing the whole running thing any more. That is, until I saw that my gym was hosting an annual Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving Day. I thought about it for a few days... kind of went back and forth about whether or not I should do it... I mean, I hadn't run in MONTHS! And this race was in two weeks. But then I saw the t-shirt you get for doing it. And it was super cute. And I'm a sucker for race t-shirts. "What the hell?" I thought. It's not like I really know anyone in this town. If I totally gave up after the first half mile and walked the other 2.6, who was going to judge me? So I signed up. And I'm glad I did.

Wouldn't you run a 5k if this cute shirt was involved?

The Turkey Trot was the hilly-est (?) run I've ever completed. It was cold (around 30 F) and my legs were kind of mad at me at first. But once I got almost to the 1 mile mark, my body kicked it into gear and I enjoyed the rest of the race as much as I had the 5k's before it. I had a friend who ran with me, err, he ran the same race I did. But he dusted me by like 10 minutes. Oh well, that's what happens when you're a runner with little legs. Regardless, it was a fun experience and it really turned my running switch back on.

After this Turkey Trot, my running legs were back! I wanted to do more of it. So I set a goal for myself. I wanted to run 25 miles in the month of December. And I did it. And I kept a log of it. 

1.20 miles - December 5th
2.26 miles - December 6th
0.77 miles - December 7th
2.08 miles - December 11th
2.38 miles - December 12th
2.70 miles - December 13th
1.00 miles - December 15th
1.36 miles - December 17th
2.67 miles - December 18th
3.07 miles - December 19th
1.25 miles - December 23rd
1.76 miles - December 24th
1.80 miles - December 27th
2.62 miles - December 28th

Total so far (and December's not over, yet!) = 26.92 miles. 

2.25 miles - December 30th
2.17 miles - December 31st
***UPDATE: Final mileage count - 31.34 miles. Hell yes.

The green runs happened when I was home in North Carolina. Obviously, I like running at home a whole lot more than I do in Wyoming, especially this time of year. At home, I get to run outside in 50-60 degree (mostly) weather while enjoying a beautiful riverside scenery at SEA LEVEL! In Wyoming, I get to stare at a treadmill screen until I'm so cramped up that I can't take it any more. I blame this on the single digit temperatures and everlasting presence of white stuff the locals call snow. I'm sure I'll love running in Wyoming once the winter is over and I can run outside. But whether home or in Wyoming, I had a goal to reach! So I sucked up the treadmill thing and got it done, anyway.

I'm so excited that I accomplished this goal. It seemed so crazy and unreachable when I thought of it at the beginning of the month. And now that it's done, I just sit back - look at my log - and think about how awesome I am.

And now I'm ready to think about a January goal. I think in the month of January, I'm going to try to bike 100 miles and run 25 again. What do you think? Is this possible? What's your goal for January?