2012 challenge - running

2011 was a great running year. I wished i’d been able to log a few more miles, but even with about a month of forced rest, I was still able to average over 1.5 miles a day, so I really can’t complain. One of the ways I stayed on track from February - August was to keep a calendar to mark the days I worked out. I printed a simple year-long calendar (similar to this one) and highlighted the days I ran. Eventually I got more organized and created a key to mark when I ran on the treadmill, when I ran outside, or if I did cross training. It was so fun to tally up each month’s totals and see how I’d done. I always was able to quickly see patterns, such as always running on the treadmill on certain days.

I enjoy my nike+ system and that it keeps everything on my account on the computer, but some days I need the physical, visual reminder about my activities. During busy seasons I found that skipping one day could quickly turn into 3 or 4 days. So I posted my calendar up on the wall by my computer where I couldn’t miss it! At other times I posted it on the mirror or found more helpful places to put it.

This year I got a little fancier. I used a bunch of photos from places I’ve run during 2011 to create a collage at the top of the calendar. I even included one from the treadmill, some from our vacation in Montana and a start-line shot from the race we ran in November. I’m hoping these picture will help me stay focused and remember how much I enjoy running.

Just for fun, here is a shot of my original. I got the idea from here. Here we go 2012. We’re off to the races!