My Run January Challenge is over and how did I do?

I sadly didn’t make it 6 days of running for any of the 5 weeks in January.

Boo on me!

There were two weeks where I did get in 5 days of running and for me right now, that is HUGE.

That’s the most I’ve run in a week in a very long time.

However running “6 days” wasn’t the main goal for this challenge.  The goal was to help me find my running mojo again because I fell out of love with running.

This challenge helped me realize a lot of things.

First is that I’m starting to put this stinking hip injury behind me.  I’m running and there is no pain afterwards.

I can increase my mileage slowly.  Oh so slowly. But it’s happening and I need to be patient with it.

I can run multiple days in a row and feel fine.

I feel so much better when I run verses the days I don’t run.

I’m a happier person to be around.

My skin looks better.

I’m sleeping better.

All of these are positives and I’m using them for motivation on the days when I feel less than enthused about running.

I also discovered that I didn’t fall out of love with running.  I fell out of love with my neighborhood.

I no longer enjoy running around my ‘hood.  As much as I hate admitting this is true, this encounter has left me frustrated.

Because of that situation, there is now a whole section of my neighborhood where it’s not safe to run.  There are also several other folks who let their dogs run loose around here making me on edge for my runs.

I’m not happy and that’s what has affected my runs so much.  The hip injury was just a bonus I guess.

I’m also bored of my neighborhood.

Bored and having places off limits doesn’t make for the greatest of running experiences.

Now that I can run again and I want to run again, I’m realizing that what is holding me back is my neighborhood.

I’ll spare you having to listen to me whine about busy streets, irresponsible dog owners, and drivers who refuse to share space on the road.

The point is, that my relationship with running is just fine.  It’s my relationship with my neighborhood that’s gone to pot.