I last updated you on my running streak in October. I had run for over 6 months. I’m now able to tell you I successfully ran for 10 or more miles every day, for an entire year.

March 16, 2020, was just days after learning my marathon that I had been training for had been canceled. Twilio (TWLO) opened under $70 after being $130 a month before. It was literally the relative bottom for me financially and mentally. I had accepted that my goals were outside of my control. I could not make the stock go higher and I couldn’t make the marathon go and I obviously couldn’t stop the virus. I was going to be inside my house for a long time and I knew that I would not be getting my walking steps in. I could either eat less or run more. I decided to run more.

I was fortunate to have an amazing setup for my running and I have adapted to truly enjoy running on a treadmill. Ok, maybe not enjoy, but getting to play video games is fun. I decided to finally finish Zelda with 100% completing the game. I played more Civ 6, but for the last few months, I have completed over 150 Hades runs while “watching” movies.

The first 96 runs of my 10-mile streak were done on the treadmill. I did not see the need to go outside as more information was still being learned about the virus. When we started looking for houses in Illinois I had to adapt. Over the summer I continued to run more outside. Still over the year, about 2/3rds of my 10-mile runs have been completed on my treamill. That’s about 15 days spent on a treadmill.

I’ve had to reduce my pace on the treadmill. I started doing 7.6 or sometimes 7.2, but I’ve rested in around 7.0 MPH. I have accepted that I am just trying to get miles in and am not going to be breaking 3 hour marathon times.

Dealing with Injuries

I’ve been fortunate to avoid injuries most of my running career, but 2021 brought new challenges. I decided to try to learn to do the splits, which involved a lot of stretching. Stretching is not something that I am accustomed to. I believe sometime in January I injured my right hamstring. It’s hard to say when, or how, or how badly, just that I felt different. When you run 10 miles every day you grow accustomed to different levels of soreness, but this was a pain.

I would run on the treadmill and around 6 miles I would occasionally feel something “catch.” It wasn’t a sharp pain, but enough for me to start shuffling to make it go away. The internet says the recommended solution is rest. Since that wasn’t an option, I just kept stretching and running. The in the middle of February my left Achilles started hurting. I was told to point my toes during my stretches and along with over-compensating for my weak right hamstring, I was now down two legs.

My Achilles caused me the most concern to date. I have never felt anything like it before. It wasn’t really painful, but I could actually feel my tendon stretching and creaking. It was like it was screaming at me to stop using it.

Instead, I bought some cheap compression socks, a fabric brace, and a rigid brace to wear when I wasn’t running. I also stopped my splits practice. After a couple of days, the odd sensation went away and my fears were adverted.

I was able to finish my streak.

Should I Keep Going?

In December I struggled with deciding whether or not to keep running 10 miles. I decided to finish a year’s worth and re-evaluate. It’s true that the extra half an hour probably doesn’t take away from the amount of movie watching I’ve been doing, but it may be making my body more tired and less likely to actually do other necessary physical activities.

Come May I’ll have run for 6 or more miles for 5 years and we’ll hopefully be moved in to our new Illinois house.

I don’t know how much longer I have in my streaks, but I do know that running 10 or more miles for 365 days in a row is something to be proud of. And I’ll take that win.