365 Day Challenge: 14 Days In!

As I mentioned earlier, I have this crazy notion to run at least one mile every day for 365 straight days.  Shockingly, I'm off to a decent start despite my pesky IT bands and creaky knees (You'd be amazed at what a foam roller and stretching can do).
Here is a list of my miles and times thus far:

Day 1:  10.13 miles in 72 minutes
Day 2:  5 miles in 39:10
Day 3:  5 miles in 37:16 (treadmill run)
Day 4:  2.19 miles in 20:05
Day 5:  3 miles in 18:26 (6x800) and 1.35 mile cool down in 10:38
Day 6:  7 miles in 50:35
Day 7 (April 8):  5 miles in 38:12
WEEK ONE TOTAL:  38.67 miles in 3 hours, 46 minutes and 22 seconds ish

Day 8: 16.20 miles in 146 minutes (Group Run)
Day 9:  3.54 miles in 29:46
Day 10:  5 miles in 35:55
Day 11:  2.11 miles in 14:43
Day 12:  9 miles in 62 minutes
Day 13:  4.53 miles in 43:41 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAYLA)
Day 14 (April 15):  2.12 miles in 14:52
WEEK TWO TOTAL: 42.5 miles in 5 hours 46 minutes and 57 seconds ish

14 day total:  81.17 miles in 9 hours, 33 minutes and 19 seconds.

Hopefully, I'll remember to write this in my running journal, and then I can just highlight runs and give the weekly totals from now on. I'm not very good at that; the government may reach a budget consensus before I write in my running journal daily.  Either way, it's been fun so far!

Things I've already learned:
-You can't replace stretching and the foam roller
-Running is easier once you're out the door
-Running to run isn't that easy; I'm always competing with myself.
-It's more fun to run with a person without considering time than running alone considering time
-The first two weeks have flown by.
-I don't think I've lost a pound because I eat a lot now. (especially salt)
-Finding time is easier to run when you don't play video games instead

Oops.. didn't mean to run THAT far

Kayla and I sometimes run together again; she's training for the Lincoln Half-Marathon this Saturday and I'm sort of on-again, off-again training for the Illinois Full at the end of April.  This run turned out to be interesting.. it all started when we hit the trail on a somewhat nice afternoon from near our house.  We take a few side streets and get on what is mostly a bike path; well, we cruised a few miles down that and Kayla wanted to head back.  I knew I wanted to go further, so I stayed on and said I was going to end up around 10 miles; which is no longer a huge deal. 

I had my trusty Garmin 405 to track the distance and time.  Well, all I had before the Garmin was mapmyrun.com and an idea of where I was on the run; in addition to that, the route somewhat changed because of an epic mall sized Scheel's being built.  This run, I figured was 10.. maybe 11 miles.  Well, I just got past Scheel's... and... my GPS fading battery and all alerted me that I was over 5 miles already.  I could: 

1. turn around and go back, running 10 miles or
2. continue like a machine to the landmark I picked

Keep these few things in mind:  I had beer battered tofu (amazing), coconut bacon (amazing) and a potato for lunch.  I didn't eat when I got home.  I had no water with me and typically don't drink enough during the day.  It was cold out, and I didn't have a hat or gloves. 

So, if you guessed #2.. you were right.  I continued to run.  Amazing, I made it to the halfway point and looked down and the GPS 7.26 miles.  Do the math, the return trip is just as far:  14.52 miles.  So, I put my head down and ran along the lonely trail only being passed by a random biker as the cold cut into my ears and my hands.  The sweat on top of my head turned into a nice frost and my hands full of sweat and locked into a running position remained that way until the bitter end.  Around mile 11 I really started to feel my lips dry and a sense of "You're an Idiot" took center stage as my running mantra.  I ran to the beat of it; it didn't really help.  I could have stopped for water at the local Sonic with about 2 miles left, but at that point.. I just wanted to get home.  My IT bands were about to split down the middle, my knee hurt a tad, my lips were chapped and my hands were slowly turning to frost like grass in the morning. 

Oh, and sometime in there my GPS decided that 26% battery life when I left wasn't enough to make it through the entire run.  Really?  I may have to email Garmin about this, 26% battery zapped in less than 1.5 hours?  That doesn't seem right since, according to their site, it says a fully charged one should last 8 hours of use time.  Do the math: that's 2 hours per 25% of battery.  Hmmmm..

Against these insurmountable odds, I managed to make it home.  I walked up to the back door where I saw Kayla sitting, warmly on the floor eating supper and Schatzi in the window watching me.  I walked in and Kayla laughed then asked if I was okay.  All I could say was.. "14.5 miles.  Can you take my watch off for me; I can't move my fingers." 

Next time, maybe, I'll be a bit more prepared (or let common sense take over)