Day 3371 – Achieving Big Goals – or – Why You Should Listen To Your Spouse – or – My Plan To Run 121.9 Miles

I’ve been running on and off for years. I’ve tried so many different plans and all have failed me, or I just quit. Until now.

For a long time, Bret has encouraged me to start very small and build on my workouts. After a few plans had me running so much I couldn’t do anything else for a few days, he suggested I start by running around the block and slowly increasing. Like many things my wise husband says, it took me a long time to listen.

See, if you haven’t picked up on it so far, I’m a big jump in type of person, but then let it fizzle out. I finally took his advice and started small, 0.25 miles. It worked out to be just about around the block where we live. I would then increase the distance by 10% after my fifth run at each distance. This is my current plan and I’m at 0.61 miles.

What’s so great is that I’m not really sore after each run, which means I can run three times a week, and work out every other weekday. I can also tell that it’s juuuuuuust about at the max of what I can do. Being the numbers gal that I am, I’ve mapped out how much I’ll be increasing my runs by date and when I’ll hit different milestones.

I planned on doing different races once I hit them in my plan, so a 5K (April), then a 10k (July), then a 10 miler (September), etc. While just the improvements in distance increase alone are super motivating to me, not being at a race length yet is a little discouraging. So I was SO happy when I found Yes.Fit.

Yes.Fit is a virtual race system. Basically, there’s a race course set up, and you run it virtually…or wherever you are, really. I signed up for The Unicorn, which is a 121.9 mile run mapped out in Scotland. It starts in St. Andrews and ends in Edinburgh, My current mileage is 3.6 out of 121.1 miles. According to my math, if I can run every week, I’ll finish in about April.

Again, I am super motivated just by the act of showing up and running, but this has added a new level to my running practice. I’ve even been using Google street view to see where I’ve “run” each day. At the end, I’ll get a t-shirt. You can also get a medal, which I’m thinking I will add on since it’s going to be a nice achievement.

I’m not sure why it took me so long to listen to Bret about this. I mean, he was a personal trainer, and health is very important to him, he’s broken world records in running and actually knows what he’s talking about.

So spouses, take a listen to your spouse’s advice, especially if they are smarter than you in a certain area.

If you’re interested in doing a virtual race, whether it’s this one or one of the others they offer, check them out! My typical “affiliate policy” is that I wait until I have used something before sharing. But while I haven’t finished the race yet, and I haven’t experienced the shipping of my merch, I’m super happy with the platform and that it syncs with my running app and shows my progress on the map.

I got a Promo Code that allows you to get a discount (a big reason why I’m sharing before I finish the race) and I’ll get a gift card. This one-time discount can be applied to any race, as long as it’s your first. Use this code during checkout – hxdcxC3X Check out The Unicorn Race to sign up!

If you sign up, or if you’re using Yes.Fit now, let me know about your experiences in the comments below!

Since I don’t run and take selfies, here’s a shot of my progress in the race!

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