It’s Day 29 of the 30 days of 5K’s challenge and I really should wait to write this until tomorrow after I’ve ACTUALLY completed the entire thing, but tomorrow’s Sunday, and as my domain name suggests, I work all day Sunday so you’re getting it today. Really hoping I’m not jinxing myself! If you want to read what I wrote the night before this crazy thing started, you can do so here.

Well, I (practically) did it and I have to say I’m shocked. Shocked that my schedule permitted it, that my body held up, that I didn’t get sick, that the weather (mostly) cooperated. I have a lot to say and decided to do it as an FAQ and I’m wondering if you can really call it an FAQ if you’re the only one asking yourself the questions in your own mind? Does that make me a nut job? My inner voices just said no. So here we go.

1. What made you decide to do this? Were you dared? Was it motivated by guilt because of all the hours of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills you’ve watched?

I actually have no clear idea of why I did this. I will say that I have to keep a strong challenge in front of me to stay motivated and I was in between race training cycles. Also, I’d never run every day for even a week before, so doing it for 30 days seemed like a great idea. (this makes no sense. I know. I need help.)

2. Didn’t you trash your legs?

Actually (and surprisingly) no. Until yesterday, my legs have felt pretty strong every day. And bonus, my left hip which tends to bother me has not hurt at all. I will say my calves have been extremely tight so I’ve had to do self-massage using this Alemis Musclease Body Oil I love every night (first tried it when a massage therapist used it on me on a Disney Cruise and I’ve been using it ever since – it’s seriously great stuff). And one of these days, I’m going to HAVE to get a foam roller but using my hands seemed to work. And I certainly didn’t have anything that could be used as an excuse not to run.

3. How did you find the time?

We all have the same amount of time. It meant less TV, sometimes less FB and Twitter, and sometimes getting up at the crack of dawn (even on Saturdays) or running past 8pm in order to fit it in. But honestly, if a mom with 3 teenagers, a full-time job and a husband who travels can find time to do this, you can too. 30 minutes a day is seriously doable for just about everybody. And please note I did this in May, otherwise known as the busiest month ever known to man kind (or something like that). Big caveat here, though: this would have been impossible when my babies were little. Actually, that’s not true if you have a good jogging stroller so I take that back. No excuses, Friends. Sorry.

And if you’re interested, here are the stats: I ran over 15 hours and over 95 miles and burned approximately 10,000 calories. Wow.

4. How did you stay motivated?

I would go back and read all the great encouragements from my amazing FB friends who cheered me on. Honestly, I could have easily let myself down. But I couldn’t let them down! Plus, as my friend Stephanie over at Food & Fitness 4 Real were discussing over coffee, I have an unnatural follow through tendency (maybe bordering on obsession). If I set a goal, I finish it. I think it must be genetic, but I don’t bail on stuff (even when I should!) and it would have taken a serious injury or family emergency to get me off track once I committed (and posted all over the social media world).

5. Did you lose weight?

I only lost 3 pounds but I am for sure more muscular than I’ve been in a long time. And I’m pretty close to my set weight anyway so I don’t have a ton to lose. It’s kind of shocking that’s all I lost (see above for total calorie burn) but when you eliminate my long runs, I didn’t burn that many more calories than a typical running week.  However, my jeans are actually loose around my legs and hips, and I’m down to a 25 in. waist which hasn’t happened in years. And my energy is amazing and I feel really, really good.

6. Did you get faster?

Yup. Not as much as I would have liked, but the consistency definitely paid off. As we know, I don’t discuss pace, but I am approximately 30 seconds per mile faster on average so I’ll take it. If I can get that to translate into my half time in August, it will mean a great PR!

So what now? Well, I am participating in the Runner’s World Streak for the summer, so I’ll go straight into that. But it’s only a mile a day, so not quite the commitment. The bigger deal is that it’s time to start training for the Dumbo Double Dare in August in order to receive this beauty:

SO . . . .my long runs will need to get back in the picture starting next week. Which is great because I really and truly miss the really long, 10 milers and no, I’m not being sarcastic. When you only do a 5K you can never really zone out and solve world problems (I need at least an hour for that!). I am definitely happier when I go longer, and I’m looking forward to my old routine with a couple of tweaks. I will no longer be afraid to run back to back runs, and my hope is that I increase to 4 – 5 days a week for the duration.

Happy Running and Thanks to everyone who encouraged me along the way! It’s been a fun month!

Jen