For Streak’s Sake: 1,700 Days and Counting

A few months ago when I reached 1,600 days in my running streak, I made a blog post (click here for a refresher), where I listed a few of the negatives of streaking that myself and other streakers had experienced.

It was meant to be a way to share some experiences and show that, just like all runners, there are times during a running streak that are less than perfect.

It’s safe to say that when I wrote that post I wasn’t expecting to experience almost all of negatives that I mentioned in the space of the next 100 days.

I’m often told that my streak is “crazy” or that “you’re crazy” for keeping the streak going. I think that most of the time this is said as a joke and not meant in a bad way. And perhaps, the argument could be made that I sound crazy a lot of the time, but some of the other negatives I am not as used to experiencing all that often.

In the last 100 days, I had two different injuries that could have derailed my streak (never mind my marathon training). I also had several long travel days and a short time with covid. And after those, I had the days recovering from the Copenhagen Marathon.

These were in addition to the normal stresses of running and, more specifically, running every day.

But just like the 1600+ days before, I managed to put on my running shoes each day and go running.

I often fall back on both the positive and negative experiences that I’ve had earlier in my streak to make it through a tough day or period. Those are the things that get me through some of the more difficult days.

Even with all of that said, these last 100 days have been maybe the most memorable of my streak so far.

Watching the Boston Marathon in person was incredible, but even better than that was traveling to Denmark and running the Copenhagen Marathon with a great friend in May (which you can find more about in my last post – here). And even more recently, running a tough but fun 7 hour timed event with another great friend in England!

At the end of the day, this streak is all about the experiences – both positive and negative – and the people that I have connected with over the last 4.5 years+!

Admittedly, these experiences and connections don’t happen every day of the streak, but they are definitely one of the biggest things that keep me going every day. Just the chance of having more of these experiences helps to keep me motivated.

Unfortunately, a few of my fellow streakers that I talk to ended their streaks in these last few months. I couldn’t help but feel their pain as they ended their streaks for various reasons because I know that it wasn’t an easy decision for them to make.

In some ways, this served as a reminder to me of how lucky I am to have made it this far with no serious injuries or roadblocks that required or made me want to end my streak.

Even though I might have a blog post for some “milestone” days on the streak, each day is just as important as any other.

So for right now, I have my sights set on preparing myself to start up my next marathon training cycle, which I currently have scheduled to begin in mid-August.

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More From RunPatRun:

• If you are reading this on the day I posted it (or in the days after), I am currently in England on another Covid-delayed trip. This past weekend I ran in a 7 hour timed event, where the goal was to run as many 3.3 mile loops as I could or wanted to in those 7 hours. I did this with my friend Mark from England. I’m planning to share my experiences in that race as well as my other running experiences that I have on my time in England in an upcoming post!