100 Day Challenge Continues

On January 1, I began a 100 Day Challenge. My challenge is the exercise an average of 100 minutes for 100 straight days with a minimum of 30 minutes a day. It can consist of any form of exercise, but mostly is running, walking, stretching, ellipticating, biking, weights, yoga and Pilates. Thus far, I have done some of each, with the exception of Pilates which I will try to do tomorrow morning. I have done two yoga classes, the first one being last Monday evening with Tammy at Downtown Down Dog or whatever it's called. Vicki Copeland is also doing that class so it was fun to spend some time with her. On Friday morning I did Kelly Spiers' class at the Y.

My sore hamstring/piriformis is feeling better, probably because I have been running slower and have been doing the tennis ball massage routine before and after running. I also think that the fact that I am doing such a variety of activities is certainly helping.

It has not been that difficult to get my minutes. The older I get, the more I have to walk before and after running so those minutes certainly add up. Next Tuesday I will have dental surgery in the afternoon and I'm not sure how that will impact my exercise. For that reason, I have been trying to get some cushion minutes so that if/when I have to just do the minimun, I can still keep up the average. After 8 days, I have an average of just over 110 minutes per day.

A real positive of the challenge is that I have gotten back to lifting weights. I do low weights with high reps---usually between 10-20 on each machine/movement. I have also included ab work and I end each session with about 10 minutes of stretching.

If my hamstring/piriformis continues to improve, I will race the Oh What A Beautiful Day 5 miler and a February 5K in Austin when I attend my Dead Runners World Conference. This is an internet email running list to which I have belonged for over 15 years. It consists of runners from all over the world and we meet once a year with between 30-100 people attending. It is really neat to meet people with whom I have been corresponding. While at the conference, many will run the Austin Marathon and Half. I had briefly considered running the Half, but then my body told me that was not going to happen, so I will settle for the 5K.

If any of you are interested in learning more about this DRS  group, contact me and I'll tell you how to become a member. You don't have to post to the list. Many people just lurk and find that to be enough involvement.