New Year's Resolution

The run that started it all occurred on July 1, 2014. I ran two miles. It was a grueling two miles.

A couple days later, I ran a tenth of a mile further. I must have been feeling ambitious. But the following Sunday, only five days after I laced up the sneakers for the first time in about a year, I almost made it three miles at a respectable pace.

My first run after Peru.

For the duration of the summer, I ran every 2-3 days. In August, I ran 46.34 miles and in September I ran 31.44 miles. All the while, I felt myself getting stronger as I pushed myself to run faster and further each week. At least, that is what I kept telling myself.

Every October, UWM holds its PantherProwl, a 5K run/walk. Last year, my girlfriend and I registered for the 5K run. I told her that this will be the only race I ever run. (Ha!)

We had a blast on a brisk, but beautiful, Saturday morning. At the end, we were tired but satisfied about what we had just accomplished. And then a funny thing happened...

Post-Panther Prowl Selfie

I felt the urge to run another race. Less than a month later, we drove over an hour south for a Veteran's Day 5K in Kenosha, WI. A month later, the girlfriend (see, these were not all my fault) recommended the Thanksgiving Day Drumstick Dash held at Miller Park.

Post-Drumstick Dash Selfie

By now the damage had been done and I was hooked. (I'm sure there are worse things to be addicted to.) On New Year's Day, I made a resolution: run at least one race a month every month of the year.

Until June of this year, I held true to this resolution. There was the Romp & Stomp 5K at the Milwaukee Zoo in January, the Cupid 10K Dash in February (where the temperature was -11 F), the Milwaukee 5K Pi Run & Lucky Leprechaun 7K in March, the First Call 10K and Home Sweet Milwaukee 5K in April, and the Door County Half Marathon in May.

What's awesome is that my girlfriend also ran in most of these races. I doubt I would be doing all of this without her support. After all, she is the one who recommended I put my name in the Chicago Marathon lottery hat.

In June, we were registered to run a 5K a few days after we returned from vacation in Norway, but the event was cancelled and no substitute could be found. But I'm not disappointed. My New Year's Resolution did not account for a certain 26.2 mile trot in Chicago in October.