How to Streak when your Spouse is 700 Miles Away

Jerry's been gone for 75 hours now (but, who's counting), and not only have I kept the kids alive, but I've also managed to keep the fish alive, remembered to blow out burning candles, and...oh yeah, keep my streak alive!

So, at this point, I'm certain I've acheieved "expert" status on streaking without a spouse.

Here's what I'm thankful for:

• Daycare.  Week day runs would be much harder to fit in without it.
• The double running stroller.  Kids haven't run in it much for a long time, so right now, it's a novelty for them and they're enjoying it.  Over the weekend, we ran to a couple of parks, and that was a good combo: They had to sit in there for no more than 10-15 minutes, and then were released to the park, then back in for more running.  Breaking it up helped us all.
• The treadmill.  On campus I have access to the gym treadmill, and in my temp apartment, there is a gym also equipped with a treadmill.
• Good friends.  Who, while not yet called upon, have offered to take the kids if/when I want to run outside, by myself.
• A good babysitter.  She's been watching our kids since Norah was a baby, and I've already booked her some weekend mornings so, again, I can get outside for runs by myself.  The fact that she's willing to come in the morning and for just a few hours is great; she's a huge help.

I'm pretty fortunate to have all of this at my disposal (it would be even better if I had the space for a treadmill IN the apartment, but alas, I don't even have room for my books in this apartment!), and even though it's not as convenient to keep the streak alive without Jerry here, I think I'm going to be able to manage it.

At least for the time being.  You never know what wrenches life will throw in my way, but for now, it's working.

Day #365 and Beyond

The end of 2013 was a whirlwind for us: I had the end of the semester, we had celebrated Christmas, then we packed up and moved out of our condo and into the apartment the kids and I will be renting for the next 4 months, and we closed on the sale of our condo.  In the midst of all this, I did manage to keep up with the running and thus the streaking, and on December 31st, I ran my 365th consecutive day and therefore completed 1 year of streaking.

It felt great to reach that achievement, and I was pleased with my year in running:

1,288 miles
3 races (1 HM, 1 10K, 1 5K)
2 new PRs (10K, 5K)

I didn't race much, and I can't believe I missed a "round" mileage number (1,300) by 12 miles, but honestly, I was so sidetracked in November and December, I wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to my mileage; I was just concentrating on getting my runs in every day (consequently, those 2 months were my lowest mileage months: 98 and 90 miles respectively).

So, onto 2014:

I didn't stop streaking on Jan 1st; I kept streaking and plan to keep streaking.  What can I say?  I may be an addict now.  So, my plan for 2014 is pretty simple: Keep streaking.

I really am not planning any other running goals beyond that.  Jerry leaves this Saturday for NC and thus begins the 4 month experiment of me as a single parent: To keep the streak alive during those months will be a trial (but I think it can be managed), so to expect anything more in these initial months of the year seems like folly.

At the end of April, the kids and I will be moving to NC to join Jerry, and from there, I have no clue how the rest of my year will shape up -- in running, as well as in other ways, so again, I'm just hoping to keep streaking.

Maybe I'll race some this year, maybe I won't.  We'll see.  What I hope for is that this time next year, I can report a 2nd year of streaking, and hopefully, will have run at least 1,300 miles. ;)