November 1st today, so yesterday I ended my October challenge… In the “halfway there” post, you could read that I wasn’t really on track after the first half… only 18 km in 15 days… that meant that the second half of October I would have to do my utmost best to get to the 50k mark!

But when I ran a bit more often than usual to get to my set amount of kilometers, I started to have this nagging pain in my lower back again, so I knew I had to take it easy… I really didn’t want to ruin my back just to get my 50k for this blog to be honest. So I really had to listen to my body… I didn’t overdo it, I tried to dose it a bit better and do regular work-outs but I inserted a couple of shorter runs into my schedule.

Below you can see my schedule

Oct 2 : 5 km

Oct 4 : 4 km

Oct 11 : 4.5 km

Oct 15 : 4.5 km (only 18 km halfway through my challenge)

Oct 17 : 4.5 km

Oct 19 : 4.5 km

Oct 20 : 4.5 km

Oct 22 : 3 km on the treadmill (but that is sooooo boring!!)

Oct 24 : 4.5 km

Oct 25 : 2.5 km

Oct 27 : 3 km on the treadmill

Oct 30 : 3 km on the treadmill

So, my dearest readers… if I calculated correctly (and trust me… I did), the total for this month is exactly 47,5 kilometers.

In the first post about this challenge, you could read that in an average month I run about 46 km, but to challenge myself I set myself that 50k goal. I really lost it in the first half of the month I know… and then the second half was just too much for my back so I had to take it easier.

I don’t look upon this challenge as a failure or a waste of time though. I actually succeeded in two things : I kept on running in a month when I usually stop running because of the rain and the cold (which are bad excuses in October, I know!). But most important : I have learned where my limit is and I was wise enough not to cross that limit as it would’ve injured me. I am glad I listened to my body when it started protesting, even though that meant failing this challenge. And let’s be honest… it’s not that my life depended on this challenge…

What I should really do now is keep on running during those dark and cold winter months. Now that I don’t have a running challenge anymore it will be harder to motivate myself… But I do solemny swear that I’ll do my best! One of the best parts of running outside is you get to see the seasons change. When I look back on the photos I took during my morning runs these past couple of months it is stunning to see what happens in nature in just a couple of months/weeks time! So that is certainly a motivation I think to keep running even in wintertime.

In the meanwhile I am already thinking about a next challenge… just keep following my blog and you’ll read about it soon!

Love, Kathleen