Mission Accomplished: Taji 100

I don't remember at this point if I learned about the Taji 100 Virtual race from another Skirt Sports ambassador, or from a fellow runner in my local She Runs this Town group. Either way I looked Taji 100, up and was fascinated by it. I loved the challenge of running and/or walking 100 miles in February. 25 miles a week. Plus Taji 100's partner charity is Team Red White and Blue which helps veterans connect with their communities, and I can get behind that.

Unfortunately I'd already spent my budgeted money on races for the winter/spring, so when I discovered that they had an option to register for free, and just track your running miles, the event went from not possible this year, to "I can run it for fun". I considered just registering in hopes that next year they would email me and remind me about the race. That left the question, do I want to commit to running 100 miles in February?

First run in February.

I pulled out my marathon plan, and totaled the miles I had planned to run in February. I had 75 planned miles for my marathon training. Wow, 25 miles difference?  This suddenly seemed feasible! I'd only need to figure out how to add an additional 25 miles. "Only." If I walked one additional mile a day while I was at work, I could make this happen. There was an indoor track I could run while my son was in dance class, I could walk a mile or so then as well. The extra miles seemed doable, so I signed up and then waited a week or so for February to start.

Snowstorm!

Then February started. I didn't walk a single mile at work. When I was there either I was too busy or the weather was not accommodating. I only walked during two of the four dance classes, as my son missed one class due to illness, and I was too exhausted to walk a different week. Time was not on my side it seemed.

Let me break the month down by numbers.

I logged 26 Activities. Only Running or Walking counted. Miles calculated by my watch's step counter do not count.
I was active 21 hours, 36 minutes and 26 seconds.
It was below freezing for 8 of my recorded runs, according to my run journal. I have no idea how cold it was for the indoor track activities.
It snowed for at least 2 of my runs.

My intention was 75 miles run and 25 miles walked.  In the end I ran 93.4 miles and walked 6.75 miles. Most of the miles felt like they were in the last two weeks when the weather improved. I tried to add a mile or more to a planned run if I was feeling good.

Surprise Spring! 

My full log is on my profile along with a donation link.

In the end this was harder than I expected and  honestly I wasn't all that certain I'd succeed when the month was over. The last week I was looking at my log and counting down, nervous I just wouldn't have the time or energy without risking injury. Recognizing I needed a kick in the butt, Amber told me if I succeeded, she would get me a shirt to commemorate the 100 miles in a month.

Now I am left with a sense of accomplishment, a lot closer to my 500 miles in 2018 goal and a really cool shirt on the way,  Thank you Amber!

I look forward to registering next year for this virtual race. If anything, it was a way to stay active during the winter.