The Merrell Challenge Wrap-Up

The End.
It's been a good run (pun intended.) This Challenge ended last week, and I wanted to share my final thoughts and stats.

My Running Stats: (via Mapmyrun) 
Final Standing: 1333rd
Percentage: Top 3%
Average Mile/Minute: 9:15 min/mile (I shrunk my time in the past week!)
# of Runs Completed: 30
# of Days Left: 0

Obstacles.
There are always reasons not to run. Amazing, perfectly reasonable reasons. Am I right? I thought it would be NO BIG DEAL to run 30 times within 45 days. I really did. Ha. I didn't really factor in life. Over the course of 45 days, we had 4 different sets of visitors in town (which made me want to go to brunch, not run!) and I got sick (which took me out of commission for almost a week!) Those two things alone kind of threw off the discipline I thought I had been cultivating. Ultimately, I learned that my runs had to be faster in order to get everything done in a day. Thus, I increased my speed. Believe me, this whole running thing was NOT always convenient, and it certainly didn't just make time for itself.

Reflection.
I honestly can't believe I did it. I've never run so consecutively in my life. It's been really rewarding because I never really believed I was a runner. I think the incredible fall foliage and the high of running in Central Park everyday really helped the "wow" factor for me. There was always something new to look at, or someone new to look at. Occasionally I would run in the afternoon and catch some of the local schools around the time of their track practice (tons of schools use Central Park, and especially the Reservoir as an extension of their facilities. It's everyone's playground!)

One Memorable Moment.
One time I was running and I stopped for a second to change a song on my iPod, and this kid (he couldn't have been older than 8th grade), ran right by me with a few of his friends and yelled, "Stop for nothing! KEEP RUNNING!!!!" I was like, "Alright, alright!" That little Upper East Side kid kicked my butt. I tell you what, I never stop to change songs anymore. I feel like he will appear out of the bushes and scold me. Another time the track team was doing sprints and I might have tried to race them. But alas. I never won. Those teenagers are scrappy.

What's even stranger is that I still feel like a teenager, yet when I think about what I've done since high school, it's been quite a lot. It's weird how you can feel young and at the same time be aging. Living. And then aging some more. All the reason to keep running!

Now that I've done this, I think I want to continue running but diversify a bit. I want to increase my mileage and try to work on my endurance. I also want to start hitting the gym a bit more regularly to incorporate more weights and strength training. You can't keep running without hitting the weights (so says my Health Magazine.) It's a journey! Thanks for joining me.

If you want to learn more about the Merrel Mapmyrun Challenge, you can follow my journey here and here and get a peek at my gear here.