Since I was in college, I have run over 25 races – from a 5k and 10k here and there, up to several half-marathons. I am not very speedy and I am definitely not in the front of the pack by any means. But I find wonderful motivation by signing up for a race with friends every few months, and running with hundreds and sometimes thousands of people seeking the same thing.
I love using the app Map My Run to train for races and track my own progress {although I refuse to share my runs with Facebook! Only my iPhone knows the truth}. The app uses GPS to track your route, distance, and pace per mile. Every mile the app reports how far you have gone and your pace. Sometimes I don’t like what she has to say, but I know it’s helpful in the long run. Ooh, literally.
Earlier this week, I received an email about the Merrell Feel Your Run Challenge from Map My Run. The challenge runs from September 2 to October 17, and the goal is to log 30 runs in 45 days. I don’t have any races coming up until next spring, so I signed up! You can also count a 15 minute “hike” as one of these logs, and you can only log once per day. So far in this first week, I logged three runs and one hike. I checked the Leaderboard this morning, and I am currently in 3132nd place. But that’s okay – I accept.