Day 100 - I did it!

Well, I made it. The last couple of weeks were pretty tough, but I managed to keep running.

Friday I got in a solid 5.8 mile run during my lunch break. I ran a good pace, under 8 minutes/mile, even though the temperature was in the 80s and it was a bit windy.

Saturday my son, his friend, and my wife rode their bikes along with me as I did a "celebratory" run, the long way (3.75 miles) to Starbucks. We stopped for coffee/hot chocolate and pastries, then continued on the 1.4 miles back home. The weather was perfect, and it made for a great victory lap around the neighborhood.

Final statistics for my 100 days:

Total miles: 541.2
Average miles/day: 5.4
Longest run: 14.6 miles
Shortest run: 3.2 miles (about 50 times)
Time spent running: 77 hours 25 minutes
Average time running/day: 47 minutes
Weight lost: 6 pounds

So what now?

First, I'm taking a day off, maybe two. My knees, ankles, and feet are a little sore. I'll give them a chance to heal.

But my goal was to jump-start my training again. I'm really happy with how far I've come in 100 days, but I certainly don't want to stop now. On the other hand, I can't just run every day. If I'm going to race again with any seriousness, I need to make time for the gym and for speed work on the track. Given my schedule, that will have to happen instead of running on some days, rather than in addition.

It will be nice to come home after a long day of work, and possibly coaching a soccer game, and not feel like I absolutely have to put on my running shoes, but I also will have to figure out how to not let myself get away with too many days off.

So I think my next challenge will be to pick an upcoming race, and figure out a training plan to try to stick to that will get me there. Running every day is probably not part of that plan, but running 4-5 times each week in addition to other training needs to be. I also need to figure out how to schedule more long runs. That has been hard.

So I think I'll continue this blog with updates roughly weekly, but for now I'm going to enjoy having checked this goal off my list!