No, I haven’t given up on the Runners World Streak yet, in fact somehow I managed to keep it going through holiday craziness, in-laws in town and even the start of a shin splint.

What I didn’t have time for, however, after fitting in at least one mile each day, was the recap posts.  So here’s a mega recap of days 15 – 20.

DAY FIFTEEN (12/6/12)

Mileage: 1.11 mile

DAY SIXTEEN (12/7/12)

Mileage: 1.17 mile

DAY SEVENTEEN (12/8/12)

Mileage: 1.4 miles

DAY EIGHTEEN (12/9/12)

Mileage: 1.05 miles

DAY NINETEEN (12/10/12)

Mileage: 2.04 miles

DAY TWENTY (12/11/12)

Mileage: 1.5 miles

MEGA-REPORT:  I started to feel some shin pain last week in my right shin when I was running.  Something felt off about my treadmill gait and it only hurt when I was running, so I had to back off from my speedwork and steady running to get these past few days in.  I had every excuse to not work out on Saturday.  I was hurting and knew I needed a rest, guests were coming in to town at 12:30 and I had a haircut in the morning and then spent the next three hours cooking and cleaning for a holiday party.

I was determined not to give up on this streak after coming so far, however, so at 12:01 I hit the road to do one VERY EASY mile with the few minutes I had to spare.  I figured if I did one super easy mile, I wouldn’t even need to shower because I would have just done the one mile.  Everything worked out except for the part when I walked in the door and my husband was kind enough to point out, “pe-yew, you need a shower”.  Ha, so much for not sweating on the easy mile!  I guess I dressed too warmly.  But, it all worked out and I’m back to running now at regular pace, and I’m gearing up for my last road race of 2012… the Santa Hustle this Sunday.

I’m starting to think there’s something up with my right shoe, however, because despite the fact my right shin pain has dissipated  I tore up my heel yesterday on my mile and a half run and bleed through my socks and stained my shoe.  That’s odd because there was nothing new about the socks or shoe, but who knows.  I’m going to keep an eye on it and maybe take it to the store to see if there’s a quick fix I can do so I don’t mess up my shin/leg/heel.

I’m officially 1/2 way through the streak today as I run day 21 today and have 20 days left to go after this!  AND, I’m on pace to hit 300 total miles run for the year of 2012, which is pretty cool!

DAY FOURTEEN (12/5/12)

Weather: 36 degrees

Mileage: 1 mile

Report: This morning I was actually feeling pretty good. I decided to take on some speedwork on the treadmill after a somewhat fitfull night’s sleep. It went well and then I rounded out the morning’s mile with the elliptical, which I hadn’t been on in about 6 months. I’ve begun to notice the tiniest start of shin splints after I push too hard during this streak, so I’m going to keep reminding myself that this is about learning to fit the miles in, consistency and my two original goals, rather than about running as far as I can each time.

Whelp, first of all I found out today I’ve been using the wrong hashtag.  Whoops… it’s #RWRunStreak on twitter, not #rwstreak.  Correction noted.

Secondly, day 13 was hard.

DAY THIRTEEN (12/4/12)

Weather: 54 degrees

Mileage: 1  mile

Report: Ugh, I did not want to run today.  I was tired, it was rainy and cold and I just wanted to go home and sleep.  I didn’t sleep well last night, so I opted for an extra hour of sleep this morning instead of waking up early to head to the gym.  I figured I’d squeeze the run in after work today.  By the end of the day I was dragging (thanks to a rare fast food lunch) and just wanted to head home.  Thanks entirely to this streak, however, I laced up my shoes and headed to the gym.  I had forgotten my headphones, so today’s mile was going to be feel long.  I had to keep reminding myself that today was an easy day and keep steady with the pace.  I always feel a bit lazy and embarrassed to go slow at the gym, but it was a good practice time for races when I have to remember not to compete with anyone but myself.  I wrapped up that mile and hit the road to go home and rest, happy to have kept the streak up.

DAY TWELVE (12/3/12)

Weather: 69 degrees

Mileage: 1.52 miles

Report: Almost 70 degrees in December, running in a t-shirt on December 3rd?  Doesn’t get much better than that.  I ran until it was too dark to run, which unfortunately wasn’t very long, but I’ll take it.

View from the run, as the sun went down.

DAY TEN (12/1/12)

Weather: 60 degrees

Mileage: 1.33 miles

Report: I had to squeeze this one in before we hit the road to go out of town.  I ran it fast and it felt great!  I really enjoyed the weather and being able to run outside again.

DAY ELEVEN (12/2/12)

Weather: 61 degrees

Mileage: 1.12 mile

Report: I felt like crap when I woke up today.  I hadn’t slept well away from home and it was pouring down rain when I looked outside.  Because of that, I decided not to run at the hotel, but rather wait until we got back to Indy and fit it in before our afternoon activities.  I fought feeling like crap the entire drive back and slept a bit in the car.  I knew with all the other things I had going on that I would have to jump right on it as soon as we got back.  I got dressed for the gym, still not feeling like running outside, and drove away.  When I got to the gym I decided it was way too nice to walk inside.  I threw my bag back in the car and hit the pavement for a hard, great mile.  I had to head home, as planned, after one mile but I was very happy to have enjoyed the weather and a great run after so much went wrong with my planned run this morning.