It’s day 20 of my run streak, and I have about one month until LA Marathon. I just finished up peak week of my training with a 2o mile run two days ago, on Sunday. Now I begin my taper! I ran 18 miles the week before, which makes this most amount of mileage I’ve ever put in for training. I am feeling it, and my left leg is strained in a couple places, which means I need to chill this week. By chill, I mean the minimum of one mile a day for my streak. I’m having so much fun with it, and in as little as 20 days, it has helped me grow as a runner in my training, drive and focus.

Day three, all smiles!

I like being committed to a form of exercise everyday. Last month it was True, which unfortunately I was not able to do every single day. Instead of 30 Days to complete, it took me about 31 or 32 days, with me doubling up on videos some days. When that was over, I knew I needed something else, something more in line with marathon training.

There is a small group of us doing this particular run streak – we started on February 1st with the goal to keep it going the entire month. I am really enjoying the check in and accountability with each other. It has allowed me to grow closer to runners and friends I had a much more casual relationship with prior. Most days I am supplementing it with at least one yoga video, and usually an arms and abs video as well. My legs get so much exercise, it’s important for me to balance it out. Plus a strong core helps with running form, and I’ve let that slide for awhile now. I haven’t worked out this much since I was single and had endless of my non-working hours to myself. Every week I’m upping the ante a little, with new videos, higher arm weights (I recently got my 8lb weights out of storage! I still need the 5lb weights for shoulder work, but am ready for a higher weight with chest, tricep and bicep work!). I’ve been doing ab videos I’ve been putting off because I remembered them as pretty challenging – I’m as strong as I was before I took a break, if not stronger! The first week of abs every day wasn’t easy, but I was able to jump right back in and even see some results quickly!

I tackled this 22 minute video today – had definitely been putting it off in favor of 1o minute workouts! I remembered it as pretty challenging, which it still was, but not the way I’d built it up in my head! It was…enjoyable!

This video will be for tomorrow. It’s the real test of strength, but I have always gotten instant washboard abs after completing it, whew! 

I’ve started putting more attention to what I’m eating. When I first picked up running, I could eat whatever I wanted, and that was glorious! I reveled in it, as I couldn’t do that much of my adult life – I gain weight easily and have struggled with a healthy body inage since my teens. When I began running a few years ago, I on an incredibly strict budget, so I couldn’t spend gobs of money on food, but made the most of working in restaurants and what I could buy at the 99 Cents Store!

When I got a new job, and moved in with Mike, suddenly my food budget grew! I ate at ALL the restaurants I’d been ogling on social media and bought groceries at Whole Foods! I was running less and eating more, and boy did those calories catch up.

We’re in a place again where we need to watch what we spend, which means I need to work on quality over quantity, especially in the middle of marathon training. I’m reaching for whole grains, brown rice, wheat bread, tons of vegetables and even made my first batch of overnight oats last night! I prefer salad in place of french fries! I still call complex carbs the boring carbs, but I am learning to acquire a taste for them!

Brown rice with roasted broccoli and brussels sprouts! Frank’s Red Hot sauce too, because anything turns into “Buffalo style” with Frank’s!

The most special factor in my run streak is growing closer to my dog Zooey. It still feels foreign to call her mine, as she was originally Mike’s dog, but we both love and take care of her. Zooey and I got pretty close in Santa Monica, when I’d come on weekends and I’d bring her treats and take her on runs. She even stayed with me for a week in my studio in Koreatown because I missed having an animal around since I had put down my 14 year old cat, Indie. But when I moved in with Mike and we had boxes everywhere, it made sense for Zooey to stay with Mike’s parents for a little while. She was still a puppy who would destroy anything at dog level when left on her own while we were out. When we moved in with Mike’s parents as well, and I was commuting to the city for work, there was distance between us. I just didn’t feel as close to her, and I was hardly home. When I had time to run, I didn’t want to worry about her skittish behaviors or being her human pooper scooper.

Zooey and I last spring, after a six mile training run for Rock’n Roll San Diego!

BUT! All of that has changed. We spend anywhere from one to eight miles together on the almost daily. As soon as she sees me in my running clothes, she gets excited and starts running in circles. I make sure she has enough food and water throughout the day to keep her strong and hydrated for our runs. I give her treats for a job well done, and even started insisting she sleep in the bed with us. (She just loves it so much! Me too!) We’re basically inseparable now. I didn’t grow up with a dog, we had cats – I’ve always been a cat person! Cats are so sweet and playful and silly and soft. They’re small and take care of themselves, they purr and like cuddles. Dogs are big and loud and dirty. So you can see that mine and Zooey’s relationship may have started out rocky – I was scared of dogs and Zooey was scared of all humans except for Mike. Now I have a best friend who waits outside of doors for me and greets me as though she hasn’t seen me in months, every time I leave the house. It’s magical.

That’s my Day 20 Run Streak recap! What was initially going to be a post about ab workouts, became an entirely piece completely. Just like my mindset during run streak!