A month ago I set myself a challenge to run 100k in the month of November. Not only have I successfully completed my challenge, I’ve run 101k to be exact!

This week was my final week. I’ve been averaging 25k a week over 3-4 runs each week. I left my biggest challenge to last which was to run my longest run to date of 15k. It’s been another massive week which started with Mia waking at 4am on Monday!!! She then proceeded for the next three mornings in a row to wake between 4.30am and 4.45am, add in a ladies night out with my school mums, a massive week at work, taking the kids to specialist appointments and squeezing in a visit to see my grandad in hospital, to say I was tired by the end of the week is an understatement…oh and with only 6 more sleeps now until we board the plane for America, my mind is about to explode!

But once again my running has kept my head above water. It’s my therapy to keep me sane. It allows me to gather my thoughts, plan things out in my head and it keeps me relaxed and focused…although my family probably don’t notice that at the moment lol!

This weeks running consisted of two 5k runs – Tuesdays hill run was done in 25.05mins and Thursdays hill run was a naked run (no watch) but I checked the time on my iPod when I left and when I got back and I would have run that in about 26 minutes! I was happy with anything this week. My aim when I run is to just do that. I still hold a record of not stopping and now I’ve been running for 3 years, I have put pressure on myself to live up to those expectations every run!

By Friday, my mind was consumed with getting ready to celebrate an early Christmas with my family on Saturday and completing my 15k run the next morning. Thankfully I had a good night sleep on Friday night and as soon as I woke at 5am on Saturday I set off on my run. The weather was perfect. No humidity, a nice light breeze, but the sun was shining. I had no expectations for the run other than not to stop until I was finished. I decided to run my 4k flat route three tImes and then three extra kilometres to make the 15k.

I started off slower than I usually do. My first kilometre was 5.05mins and with each kilometre I became slower and slower. To be completely honest I wasn’t feeling it for the first 4k and when I saw 21.36mins I knew I had to pick up the pace. I finally picked up my pace and started to sit a lot more nicely into the run and when I reached 10k at 52.20 minutes, I was happy enough. As I approached the 12k mark, which was three times my 4k route, I told myself you can do one more lap…and I did!!

I was stoked when I got to 13k at 1 hour 9.30 minutes – new PB set!! The next two kilometres were so much easier than I anticipated. I would have loved to run 15k in 1hour 20mins or less so when I looked at my watch and it was 1 hour 20.50mins I was cheering to myself. I didn’t care how I ran the last kilometre I just didn’t want to stop until I reached 16k, but once again it’s amazing where that last bit of fuel comes from and when I reached my 16k mark, four times my 4k route, I was overjoyed that not only did I complete it without stopping but in 1 hour, 26 minutes and 10 seconds!!!! Was such a fist pump moment…until my legs started to buckle a bit lol (which surprisingly they feel great today!!!)

I did it I really did it and it wasn’t a disaster, it wasn’t painful like I thought it would be, there were times where I couldn’t wait for it to be over, but for most of it, I was so determined to be successful. I am a competitor and I compete against myself, so when I set out to run 100k for the month I had to do one better…and that I did…even if I ended up with war wounds!!!

I was so excited when I got home, the kids always run to me to see how I went – they always ask “how many did you run today mum?”…my response “I did it!!! I ran 16k!!!!!” “Wow mum!!!” they replied with:) My excitement was short and quick as my mumma duties kicked back in quickly as we had Christmas celebrations to get ready for…and what a great day it was!

Where to from here??
If my cardiologist approves, I am going to start training for my first half marathon in March for July next year. I’m quietly confident he will let me. Now I know I can run 16k that’s only 5.1k off a half marathon so hopefully I’ll be able to pull one-off! But for now, I will spend this week finishing off getting ready for our holiday we’ve been planning since we returned from our holiday to America 5 years ago!! My goal is to run at every place we visit over there…I shall keep you posted!

I hope everyone has had a great month challenging themselves to achieve new goals!