I have been collecting this data and been reading articles for some time about the discrepancies in my Apple Watch 6 vs my Garmin fēnix 5x. However, I have not finished all of that yet and felt compelled to post this quickly as I ran across a very puzzling issue today that I am not even really sure where to start but this is how it went.

On my run today I started both watches at the same time as always waiting for the Apple Watch to do it’s 3 second countdown and then I hit start on my Garmin. Today was colder out so I had a jacket over both watches so to that point I only looked once at both watches to see how the time was as I knew I needed to make a loop (or thought I did) because I wasn’t going to hit the mileage I was shooting for. However, the Apple Watch was back at the main screen and not in the Workout screen. This is only irritating as I had to type in my pin to get into the watch. I thought for sure then it must have stopped timing but this had also happened earlier in the week and once I clicked back into the Workout app I could see the time was still ticking away. I did the same thing today and glanced that it was still running but didn’t look close enough to know what the time said or anything.

Fast forward 1 more mile and I was at the end of my run and I stopped my Garmin first and then went to my wrist and stopped the Apple Watch as I always do. However, looking at the activity summaries I noticed the Apple Watch said I only ran a fraction of the time and distance I knew I was at.

Now I have had some discrepancies before now but never such a big one

Knowing that didn’t seem right I dug into the details of the Apple Watch the GPS shows me stopping this half way through the run 🤔. I would say oh it must have just shut off but I know with 1 mile to go I looked at it and the time was ticking away so if anything where was that portion of time.

I gotta have the details…

Now as a person running with two watches I get I am a little strange but this was even more boggling than the research I have been looking into on just GPS accuracy for each watch. So I looked at some more of the details and found a couple interesting points.

Garmin fēnix 5x

Apple Watch 6

You can see that both the Garmin and Apple Watch have the same start and stop times so I was correct at seeing the time clicking away when I had to re-enter my pin with 1 mile to go. However, that only goes to being more odd as the Apple Watch says the total time was 21:18 (head scratcher I know). Also, it says it didn’t have enough data for my Heart Rate. Something wasn’t working right the whole time because I would think even for a 2.5 mile run that would give it enough and I wear the watch pretty snug so it isn’t like it bounces around when I run. I guess Apple didn’t think I my ”effort” was enough to be recorded for at least the last 3.7 miles but really the whole thing for HR perspective.

Hopefully, I will get to finishing my post around the GPS accuracy at some point but it probably won’t be any silver bullet as shockingly there is a lot of information but maybe only a couple good explanations. Until then I will hold off my true thoughts on both I will keep wearing them 😆. ⌚️ ⌚️

Two weeks ago I decided to set off on completing a 4x4x40 as part of some crazy ideas for my 40th birthday year. However, after I reached the 40 miles I felt like I really needed to continue as I figured at that point I might never do this again and get so close to hitting the real number and completing a 4x4x48 (run 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours). Maybe it helped that I was a bit sleep deprived at the time and not thinking clearly as I figured what was two more 4 mile runs at that point.

Since I posted after each of my runs with a short photo, time, and thought I will not rehash all of them. I don’t want to make light of this challenge as I think it was hard but the miles themselves weren’t the worst for me. Some of that could have been that I didn’t really have a pace per mile in mind. I obviously wasn’t going to try to run the fastest 4 miles I could every time. However, in my mind, I wanted to keep all of my averages per run under 9 min/miles. The biggest struggle for me during this challenge was trying to fit it in during a normal working day. Due to the weather forecast and maybe my last-minute planning, as it was December, I did it during the middle of a workweek. So I scheduled it out earlier in the week and pretty much created an appointment for myself every 4 hrs. It worked great the first day but the second day some things came up at work so I had to shrink down one of my 3 hr blocks of recovery and extend other ones. I still was able to get the run in that 4 hr bock but I wasn’t as consistently on the hour as I was the first day of running. In a way, I am wondering if working both days helped me keep my focus away from running and how tired I might have been as I was doing things I needed to do during the day. Then in the evenings I still helped get the kids to activities and stuff.

Now obviously the lack of sleep is one thing but the worst time of runs for me was the 5am runs that I did. I think it is because after the late-night 1am run it always took me longer than anticipated to fall asleep. You would have thought I would have been tired enough to just get into the house and fall asleep. I am guessing that the kick of adrenaline that was in my body messed with allowing my brain to shut down at that time. So for both days by the time I would will myself to sleep and it would work I think I only got 1 hr before I would have to wake up at 5am to run. After that run, I would just start my day and didn’t try to get any more rest as my youngest gets on the bus at 7am.

In the end, I have never run so many miles in two days. It ended up being 48.9 miles due to one run when I put my trust in a running friend who lead me astray by an extra mile. Those two days were more mileage than I had completed any week during my marathon training this past year. It was an interesting challenge as it took careful planning as I still worked and helped with kid activities like a normal day. It was just I ran every 4 hrs 😁. The day after I was done I felt pretty wiped out from most likely lack of sleep and over-exercise. Fast forward two weeks later and I am back on track. Maybe I will do another one of these challenges someday but probably no time soon. At least for the rest of this year, it will be back to the normal scheduled running for me.

Full Data of Runs - Links to Posts and Strava

• Running Log: 4x4x40 - 1/10 (1:01 am) - 4.02 miles at 8:39/mi pace, 36°F 🌧
• Running Log: 4x4x40 - 2/10 (5:02 am) - 4.02 miles at 8:55/mi pace, 37°F 🌘🌥
• Running Log: 4x4x40 - 3/10 (9:00 am) - 4.01 miles at 8:51/mi pace, 36°F 🌥
• Running Log: 4x4x40 - 4/10 (1:01 pm) - 4.02 miles at 8:33/mi pace, 45°F ☁️
• Running Log: 4x4x40 - 5/10 (4:41 pm) - 4.02 miles at 8:59/mi pace, 50°F 🌥
• Running Log: 4x4x40 - 6/10 (7:57 pm) - 4.01 miles at 8:31/mi pace, 48°F 🌥
• Running Log: 4x4x40 - 7/10 (1:02 am) - 4.02 miles at 8:47/mi pace, 47°F ☁️
• Running Log: 4x4x40 - 8/10 (5:04 am) - 4.02 miles at 8:59/mi pace, 40°F 🌌
• Running Log: 4x4x40 - 9/10 (9:52 am) - 4.02 miles at 8:35/mi pace, 38°F ☀️
• Running Log: 4x4x40 - 10/10 (12:58 pm) - 4.69 miles at 8:06/mi pace, 45°F ☁️
• Running Log: 4x4x44 - 11/10 (4:46 pm) - 4.03 miles at 8:27/mi pace, 41°F ☁️
• Running Log: 4x4x48 - 12/10 (8:51 pm) - 4.03 miles at 8:35/mi pace, 39°F 🌧

Earlier this year I had a plan to run 40 miles with a really good friend of mine through the mountains of Colorado. We thought it would be fun to run 40 miles since we both turned 40 this year. Not to mention suffering together and probably laughing along the way made it seem like a feat that could be pushed through to accomplishment. The timing was not going to be great for me as it was one month before my Twin Cities Marathon but I was game to do it as it sounded amazing. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure how to train for such a thing but I just said yes and he said he would work out the details. The bummer is around May he hurt his ankle and knew the run wouldn’t happen. I was bummed that it fell apart but it probably worked out since I hadn’t run a marathon for 20 years and I wasn’t sure what I was in for. I am sure it probably wouldn’t have been great to come in not feeling the best from a 40 mile run through the mountains no matter how long it took us.

Fast forward to about 1 month before I ran the marathon and I stumbled across this concept of running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. At the time I didn’t know anything about it but thought that had a nice ring to it. However, the whole 48 hrs didn’t mesh with my goal so I figured I would modify it slightly to fit as a 4x4x40 instead 😁.

4 miles every 4 hours for 40 hours since I am 40 this year

That leads me up to now… After the marathon, I have been trying to take it easy and just running for pleasure but I feel like I have been missing something as I had hoped to do something else with this year 40. After pondering this for the last month, I realized that if I am going to do it I need to do it before it gets too cold in the night to complete this task so I am going to start tonight (or today) and we will see how this goes.

I do know more about the real 4x4x48 challenge and the guy who created it. However, my goal still has not changed. I will probably write about it as I go mostly just to document it along the way so I apologize to anyone not interested in this disregard my posts for at least more than 40 hrs from the first. Then we will be back to our regularly scheduled posting.

I don’t have any main goals in mind if you are wondering. My goal is probably to do as many of these 4x4s that I can in hopes to get to 40 but that is a lot of mileage for me in a short amount of time. Also, I am not concerned about my pace either except hoping I don’t go too fast at any point as that could screw things up. Either way, this is going to be an interesting experiment no matter how many I get done so we will see how it goes!

A final note for those interested, I am still working and getting kids to school and activities. So I am kind of treating this as just some breaks throughout my day and that is another reason why this time lined up perfectly. In the perfect world, I would only be doing this 40hrs with no other responsibilities. 🤷‍♂️

Decided to follow a trail with 6 tunnels yesterday along the 3.4 mile Bluff Creek Local Trail in Chanhassen 🏃🏻‍♂️

W 78th St Tunnel (the start of the trail)

Arboretum Blvd Tunnel (It is really two tunnels as you can see the space in the center but really only one road so I am counting it as one)

Coulter Blvd Tunnel

Twin Cities & Western Railroad Tunnel

Lyman Blvd Tunnel

Bluff Creek Road Tunnel

Then I actually found the end of the trail so I turned around and ran back to my car 😁. I had actually never run on this trail before so even though the map said it was going to end sometimes things aren’t updated that well and I was thinking it might have gone further. So it did surprise me when I came to the end and the path did not go further or connect up to anything else. I am guessing it is because if they wanted to keep extending it South they would have to figure out how to go over or under HWY-212.

Overall, it was really nice trail that was all asphalt so I might have to remember this one for next summer with the kids as the distance isn’t to crazy either.

Update: Since I didn’t post this yesterday as planned, I dug into some of the old Chanhassen park records and it seems like the Master Park / Trail plans from 2017 and 2018 assumed they would continue it further South. I wonder if once the construction of HWY-212 was completed they just abandoned the original plan or maybe didn’t leave a passage to get under it. I did notice that the HWY was on the original plans but based on what I know it wouldn’t have been completed at that time and was still a work in progress. Additionally, the details of their plan never really addressed how it was going to get past that HWY like other referenced markings on the plan to show an existing bridge or tunnel.

Well after all the build up for the past 9 months the race is done and I am happy with my own results. After, what has been a 20 year hiatus (more on that below) I was glad to conquer this one in much more style, less pain, and a time I had not planned for 😁. As I have told most people who ask me, it is amazing what some real training does when preparing for a marathon.

Building up to race day I was asked what time or pace I was shooting for and in reality I didn’t have much thought. Well there was some thoughts but honestly my goal was faster than 20 years ago time but more specifically I was shooting for under 4 hrs since I felt even being 20 years older I could bet that time of 4:15:17 by 15 min. Not only did I beat that time I crushed it by 35 minutes for a time of 3:39:28.

Also, I can’t thank my family enough for coming out to support me as it was great seeing people I knew from time to time throughout the day.

Not to mention my champion wife who was trucking around the Twin Cities to various points even though she didn’t know the roads very well while with her was 3 kids of which some expired at my 2 hr mark.

She was there for the first one 20 years ago so it was great to have her and the rest of my cheering section. Also, for the last push of 6 miles I saw my uncle on the sidelines saying “looks like you got this one” which was a great confidence booster in the middle of the 3 mile uphill climb.

(This was early on in the race and I seem a little to happy)

(Later on in the race still happy, I think)

(Final push to the finish)

##2001 Race Background## 20 years ago on a whim I signed up for the 2001 Twin Cities Marathon sometime after I had just turned 20. I am not really sure what I was thinking but I believe in a way it was because I had not keep up running much from my High School days and missed it. I also thought I would share in the punishment and poor college student me signed my brother up (who was working at the time) as well since he lived in Minneapolis. I figured what was he going to do if I signed him up for it, not show up?

I jumped right into some training plan I am sure I found on the internet at the time and was following it religiously throughout that summer as I stayed up at school and all my friends went home. However, when the training plan started to tick up miles school was back in session and my training fell off the radar. I don’t even think I ran anything of value or consistency the month before the race. Talk about coming in cold. In fact, the longest I had run before that 2001 Marathon was 13 miles.

Let’s just say the day turned out as you would have expected, the adrenaline and excitement pushed me though probably 17 miles worth. Then I gritted it out for another 3 that I can’t remember. The last 6.2 miles were torchure and I think most of it has escaped me. From what I remember it was a lot of walking for that last 6.2 miles and seems right as up to that point I was tracking time well and then it took me one and fifteen minutes to complete that last 6.2 miles. I remember finally realizing that I as only 1 mile from the finish and I think that is when I started to somewhat run again knowing the end was finally in sight. The best part of that race was that I crossed the finish line with my uncle and to this day we all still joke how I touched the finish line first.

However, in reality when I was dying on those last miles at some point he passed me up and I caught back up to him in the final stretch. Since that time but probably not right after I kept telling myself that if I was ever going to run another one and I did want to I wanted to make sure I trained for it much better than before. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t that the time was overly horrible but I knew I could have done better so it was my goal.

Sometimes you have to start over at ground zero. Well technically I am probably not at ground zero this time because I only had four days off in a row.

This week however I have been getting back into running or restart my running has been a struggle. I have found it much more difficult that I would have thought based on the amount of mileage I typically run and how often I had been running each week. However, I am still probably not 100% better from my Achilles heel pain (or this is what my PT friends tell me I have). In addition, the heat and humidity earlier this week has not helped in my attempts to ease back into running. I restarted this week doing shorter than normal runs but since my only time was late afternoon I was battling getting back at it during the hottest times of day.

I have 45 days left until the Twin Cities Marathon … Right now my goal is to not get injured more and get my comfort level back up when running longer miles.

Let’s get this!

If you are looking for a great motivational book to keep you going in whatever you are trying to do look no further. If you are looking for a book about how to run then this might not be what you are looking for but you should pick this one up as well to give you some laughs along your running journey.

The great part about this book is that it is all about the Running journey and exploring why people run and the motivation behind it. By using Brendan’s and others' relatable running stories it frames up challenges all of us face to just get motivated to do things in life. There are always obstacles in the way, better things to do, or thinking we are too busy to do something. As a “runner” myself, I can personally relate to the specific stories of running as no matter how much I love running, being outdoors, It is much better to have the run done and behind me as I too am someone that struggles most of the time to just get out the door. Specific to running, everyone has their own story and reasons why they run and Brendan also explores that as part of the book.

Now I am a fan of Brendan Leonard fan of his work from his site Semi-Rad, and this book did not disappoint. That being said, I have seen some of these graphs before but the rest of the story and context is short, witty, and perfectly sized for most of us to get through in a timely manor.

One of my favorite parts of the book is when he is talking about what he calls the “invisible work” which in the context of the book is all of the miles and hours you put in before a race or event. In fact, for someone like myself who is planning on running a Marathon later this year, I have already run about 37 marathons with the number of miles I have put in so far.

Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. - Chuck Close

Overall, I couldn’t recommend this book more but honestly don’t just take my word for it and pick up a copy from the links on his website. The best thing is it is a smaller-sized book so you can carry it with you on all of your adventures (well maybe not while running) so you can refer to the helpful motivational kick in the butt that is needed from time to time while doing anything. Honestly, I wish I had this book a couple of years back when I was content with just running a 5k a day as some days were harder to get motivated than others. As I am now running longer miles with slightly less frequency, I feel like this book helps keep me motivated to get out there.

Pretty sure I was chased by the same bird that followed me a couple of weeks back. This time however it was less in a fun way of circling me and more of an attacking / intimidating me. I am guessing the bird has a nest that is close to this boardwalk path since it seemed quite upset with me after I ran by a specific bush that is really close to the path. I remember seeing it flying by me and then instantly circled and flew after me chirping along the way. I looked back probably 3 different times and it was no more than 5 feet from me in the air acting like it would like to peck me in the head. After I finally got away and realized it wasn’t following me I snapped this picture.

I am starting to think I might have to avoid this route for a while or at least not attempt it in the morning hours 🤣.

I often take pictures while out running as a way to document random things I see or things of interest. However, today’s picture eas entirely random to the spot but felt it gave a good view of the trail and beautiful day we were having here in Minnesota. It doesn’t take me long to take a quick picture and put my phone away but to my surprise as i kept running there were some deer watching me. In fact, looking back at my photo now I can spot one but I didnt see it tell after I started up again. Makes me wonder in other pictures I have taken if I would look closer I would find something interesting 😁.

Last night I was looking for a place I ran in Germany when I was there on a work trip in 2015. I then realized when I stopped using my Fitbit in 2019 I didn’t import that far back to my Garmin as I wasn’t using Strava then either.

As I logged back into Fitbit for the first time in a long time I was hit in the face again with how terrible their activity log and reporting is. Not to mention if you want your GPS data back and not a crummy CVS output of steps good luck!

Unforentually, my realization that I did not import my data from 2014-2016 into Strava or Garmin sent me down a rabbit hole of manual tasks by finding all my old runs in Fitbit to download. I am happy to say that task is done and I can thankfully (hopefully) never log into Fitbit again 😁.

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Number

As with my 365 days of running, I really didn’t mention to anyone that I was going to be on a podcast episode of Off The Couch until right now as it went live today. You can find the Episode by clicking the link below or wherever you get your podcasts.

Eric Walker on Running 5k a Day for 365 Days (Ep.39)

The episode is talking about my 365 days of running a 5k every day. I will give credit to Johnathan Ellsworth and Brendan Leonard the hosts for asking all the right questions to make an episode that was more than 15 min long as we joked about the start of the episode. I had a lot of fun chatting with them and feel privileged to have been on the show as I know they have had some amazing guests.

I hope you give the episode a listen and enjoy the conversation I had with them as I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with them. Finally, if you did enjoy it be sure to give their podcast a review on iTunes to help show support for their show. I have only been a more recent listener and am enjoying it as it keeps me company while running and I really enjoy hearing all of the stories of their guests.

A little more about Johnathan and Brendan:

Johnathan Ellsworth is the Founder of BLISTER, not only do they create some amazing Podcasts like Off the Couch which is geared towards runners. They also have other podcasts talking about other outdoor activities like snow sports, biking, and climbing. Not to mention, they review gear and give honest reviews to make sure you are not wasting your time or money so if you are looking to buy some gear check BLISTER out.

Brendan Leonard is the creator of Semi-Rad where he has published tons of articles and charts/drawings that are always great enjoyment. In addition, he has a bunch of books published too. You can find all of this stuff on his website Semi-Rad.com or follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

Some days you just have to keep going. That is what I told myself as I hit mile 2 of my 3.1 mile loop I have run many times before.

So what did I end up doing? Well, I just added on another 3.1 mile loop in a completely different direction in order to just keep moving along.

I had originally planned to do a longer run today so I set my alarm really early to ensure I would have enough time to get it done. When the alarm went off I was just too comfortable laying in bed that I stayed there for a really long time. Finally, after a lot of time ticked by I told myself I had wasted enough time laying around and I should get outside to run. However, I figured I only had time for 3.1 mile route instead of the one I was planning on doing.

Being a little bummed about not doing what I had planned, I was glad that I got outside to do something instead of skipping it altogether, which was also on my mind. I didn’t feel great running at first either so I knew just sticking to an easier route was a good plan so then I could get home and have some time before I rushed off to work. However, as I looked at my watch and realized I was at about 2 miles into my run and approaching my house I thought why not just continue and run another 3.1 mile loop that goes a different direction.

So that is just what I did and I continued on a different route.

“It’s not so much that I began to run, but that I continued”

Hal Higdon

You might be wondering why I shared the story above with you but stick with me and read on :)

I was glad to have extended my total run to the full 6.2 miles I had planned to run the night before. Even though I took a completely different route than planning, I ultimately achieved the same goal I set out to accomplish.

Reflection on Paths and Moving Forward

As I reflected on that driving to work today I realized a lot of people (me included) focus too much about what path we planned to be on in order to reach our end goal. However, by being so focused on the current path we could be losing sight of what we really want as an end goal. In fact, we could miss a turn that might take us off the current route but still headed in the right direction overall.

This has happened to me quite a few times most specifically in careers or jobs. I know what I would like to be doing down the road from now or how that might look. However, sometimes I get so stuck in a role (path) thinking it will eventually get me there as I had originally planned. Then another year goes by and I realize I am no closer to where I would like to end up and in reality, I might be further behind or off track. If only I would have stopped ignoring other interesting routes that would probably lead me to the same destination as my goal.

Ultimately, I am beginning to learn that taking small steps and keeping the course is a good thing in life as long as you continue to move forward. However, you should make sure you are aware of your surroundings and make sure you aren’t just following a path because that was your original plan. You also need to make sure you are keeping your head up and making sure you aren’t so focused on the trail in front of you that you might be passing up other opportunities.

A couple weeks ago I was on what I called a mini sabbatical but in reality, it was just a week off of work before I started a new job. During that week I fully appreciate and understand why rest is important. I think the overall concept of time away from work is something more companies should figure out how to offer. I know some companies have programs like actual sabbaticals after putting in a number of years at companies. I think the idea is great and I think it could be something done on a smaller scale too. I think the most important aspect is to figure out how to allow people to have some time away from where they can really disconnect.

Disconnecting is what you hear about all the time now and after a week of being fully disconnected, I know there are benefits there. I have always taken time away to spend time with family and I would say I was “disconnecting” from work. However, I was never truly disconnected. I was still getting work emails on my phone and more often than not I carried my work laptop with me to where I was going. So in theory as much as I was saying I was “disconnected” I was still connected by checking and making sure nothing went wrong back at work while I was away. Even if I wasn’t responding to anything, I was still glancing through things to make sure nothing big was going on and filling stuff away in order to make it easier for when I got back to work.

However, on this “break” I didn’t have email or work issues that came up or even could be brought my attention. When I left work on my final day, my email and connection to that job disappeared as well. I was unemployed as I was in between jobs and it was great. I was hoping that my wife and I could have escaped somewhere fun for a couple of days but seeing how this wasn’t planned very far in advance. So my wife still had to work and the kids still had school and their normal after-school activities.

However, that was honestly perfect for me as it allowed me to do more with the kids before and after school as I was still there. However, it also gave me a chance to just do random things during the day from 9am - 4pm when my kids were at school. I took the dog to the dog park where she was just in heaven as there wasn’t anyone there and she could just run around as fast as possible.

I spent the week doing things I enjoyed but honestly, I could have had another week to get even more stuff done as I had planned on taking the time to read a book (yep never happened). I did make sure to sneak in a couple of long runs, multiple runs per day, as well as a fun park that was a lot of hill running but worth the views.

In fact, I even met up with my cousin for a run one of the days I was off. It was good to get outside as well as catch up with her.

Finally, I took my wife out on a couple of lunch dates where we could take our time eating and just enjoy each other’s company with nothing big to rush to the next event or worry we are paying some babysitter to allow our kids to watch TV at home :).

I am sad that my time away from work is over as I am now three weeks into my new job. However, I am going to think of ways going forward that I can take a week off and just be at home as disconnected as I can. Another thought is to just take some random days off here and there where I can just do my own thing without other priorities or reasons for taking the day off. I believe that would allow me to be refocused and refreshed going back to work the next day.

Have any of you ever just completely disconnected from work? If so what did you think of it and was it helpful?

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Slope

I have used my Fitbit since January 2014 after what I remember was a long time trying to decide if I really wanted one and if so which one. Thinking back it has served its purpose well and I will give it some credit for keeping me active over the past years.

Over the course of the timeline above, I used a handful of watches. Most I bought because I wanted GPS capabilities however I did own two that were only step counters. From the data above you are probably wondering why there is a big gap in 2014. Long story short after I decided on getting a Fitbit at the end of 2013, I went for the new Fitbit force since it could actually show the time as I thought it was silly to just have a tracker band on my wrist. Unfortunately for me, I had issues with that watch and had to return it. At that time they didn’t have a replacement as all of them were recalled so they just returned my money in Full.

Positives

Community

Due to the fact Fitbit was kind of a pioneer in the step tracking market, a lot of people jumped on board quickly. I don’t recall when they started their community to connect with people and have challenges but it has been for as long as I can remember. This is something they did well early on too as it encouraged people to do more in order to try to keep up with family or friends. I enjoyed looking at where people’s 7-day averages were and how well I did against them.

Customer Support

Hands down the one thing Fitbit has done (at least from my perspective) from day one is having great customer support. Put aside the question of quality as remember early on this was a new type of technology. I have purchased 5 different Fitbit devices for myself during the 5 year period.

• Fitbit Force (Step tracker with Time Display) - Recalled
• Fitbit Flex (Step Tracker ONLY) - Free replacement after it got water in it
• Fitbit Surge (GPS Watch) - Free replacement after the band broke as this version doesn’t have removable watch bands
• Fitbit Ionic (GPS Watch) - Free replacement after it just died and didn’t turn back on
• Fitbit Aria (Scale) - Still the original / never got a replacement

However, I have had 8 devices. The first one was a factory recall and I got my full purchase price back. For the other 3, I purchased I had issues after a year or more and they replaced the device free of charge. When you spend more than $150 on newer technology and you are frugal it is a relief knowing that they stand behind the product.

Main Issues

Reporting Data

This was never really an issue years ago but as my use of my Fitbit watch changed it became more apparent. After having my year of running 5K a day and wanting to look through the data and look back at things, I quickly realized that looking back at specific data in your Fitbit is near impossible. How can I find all of the “Runs” I completed in the previous year.

You can click on the activities tab but everything is an activity and there is no good way to sort by type of activity. In addition, I can’t even easily export the information to do anything else with it. The good thing is most of my runs are in Strava which makes it super simple to export and look back at specific types of Activities (e.g., Runs vs Bike Rides).

Unreliable GPS / Watch

This kind of goes with my gripe above with data, however, a GPS watch itself is only as good as when it is tracking. If I didn’t want to know where and how far I ran, then I would not have paid over $250 for my Fitbit Ionic and just bought a $30 Timex like I used to wear in High School.

No chance of this watch failing unless the battery ran out.

The Fitbit Surge was a good watch and my first GPS watch.

I really did like the Fitbit Ionic as it had a big clear display.

One of the times my Fitbit failed in the past year around 1 mile into my run. I thought that since you could swim with this watch on it would have been able to survive the rain I was running through.

However, since I did spend that money on a GPS watch that is what I want. Below are some great examples of when my Fitbit would just fail me in the middle of the run. I realized that the map makes it look like I stopped and just didn’t complete the loop back to my house. Just for reference though, I do not stop a half-mile from my house as I always make it all the way back to my starting point no matter how much further that makes me run.

Will I miss anything?

I will miss the Community and the data I already have out there. I have tried to pull over as much data as I can into my new system but not all data is created equal even when importing. As I noted before since all of my runs were in Strava that was easier to get and import all of those into a new system.

As for the community, I will miss that as well since two of my kids have Fitbits and it was always fun being able to quickly see how I ranked over them. Even with 3.1 mile runs every day my kids still beat me in steps, unless they didn’t wear their watch. However, as for other family and friends, they too have started to drift away from Fitbit.

My guess is most people got Apple watches and didn’t want to wear both. Or if they wanted more of a Runners / Workout watch they went to Garmin or Suunto. I have been connecting with runners on Strava and it seems most drift to Garmin.

Question for you?

Do you track your steps or fitness activities using a watch? If so what kind do you have? If you have had a Fitbit ever what kind did you have and what are your thoughts on it?

You asked for it so let’s dive into the data! I knew this was going to be a follow-up post to the one I just wrote earlier this week about my 5K a day. Maybe it is because I am kind of a data nerd and you were shocked I didn’t publish any data or charts with my last article. Or maybe it is because you wanted to see when and how far, fast or what time of day I completed my runs. It could have been that you were not 100% sure you believed me in my last article and were waiting to see some proof.

When did you run?

This is one of the first questions I got after my previous post, When did I do most of my running? I have been asked this question by friends and family members before and without looking at the chart my answer was always the morning without a doubt. With 3 kids in activities, the morning was the one time I could really control what I did. If I didn’t do it first thing there was always a chance that plans could change and I would be doing it at midnight. However, it did get me thinking about how often I ran the rest of the day over the past 12 months.

Friday Mornings take the real WIN!

After looking at that last set of data I pondered if there was anything else I would like to see. That is when it hit me that it would be interesting to see based on the day of the week when did I typically run.

I was not really sure what to expect on this chart before pulling it together. The only thing I could think of was besides mornings probably being pretty spread out during a given week. I would have thought more evening runs as I would try to squeeze them in right after work or while at a kid’s activity. As you can see from the data below, that is not entirely what is being shown.

After looking over the chart below I came to two realizations:

1. I am not sure how Strava categorizes Morning, Lunch, Afternoon, Evening or Night run. The biggest problem I see here is that there is a big gap between what I would consider Morning and Lunch. Then in the afternoon and evening, I am not sure what that fine line is to trip it from Lunch to Afternoon to evening. I spot checked a couple of specific days and it was counting afternoon as 5:50 PM. Not sure if that is where it should fall but then the data started to make more sense as in the winter months for sure I ran more in the early evening (or still Afternoon) while my son played basketball.
2. I made a concerted effort to never run at night on Friday and in fact, it was the heaviest day of morning runs. I had never really thought of it but accept what the data says. Most of my Friday nights kids don’t have activities so with that in mind we are either doing something as a family at home or traveling somewhere for the weekend. Not to mention if you want to have a drink with the neighbor while grilling after work on a Friday it is best to get you run in early.

Pace

Finally, after I was pulling all this data together I was wondering what was my average pace over the course of these 12 months. The overall answer is 7:47 min miles. I decided to create some quick average charts by day and month. The day chart kind of puzzled me except when thinking about the other data above. I most likely got better rest before my Saturday run as I didn’t always have to do it at dawn.

When you look at the monthly chart this is even more interesting but I have a few ideas of why it might look like it does.

From when I started till about January I was on a steady decline. However, those runs were mostly solo in nature and a more consistent route due to darkness, and early snowfall. Don’t forget it got cold in January and I might have tried to run faster outside just to get the run done in the early morning.


Running with my daughter and the dog. Not a bad way to start the day as it is always filled with conversations. Not to mention more stops by both to see and listen to nature (March 2019, Eden Prairie, MN)

Frozen face run in -9.4°F (February 2019, Eden Prairie MN)

The Spring months I was running more with Lainey Lou the Doodle (our dog) which then slowed down my pace. In addition, I would run sometimes with my daughter who would like to bike along with me and sometimes she just wanted to stop. Finally, in the late April / May timeframe it was starting to get nicer out that I could do more trails around the area. In May especially, I was traveling and was running in the hills of Arizona, streets of China and a number of Treadmill runs due to the arrival of flights. I know that Treadmill run data was about the worst because I only have my watch data to go on and most of the time it never said I ran as far as the treadmill said I did.

So after all of my analysis above, I got to thinking I might be missing some data here that might be in addition to the chart above. The one above only gave average pace but I was more curious about what the min and max were as well. I think this chart helps answer some of those questions.

Looking at the chart above I think it further supports my hypothesis of running in different places and on the treadmill.

Fastest Times

I figured since I was sharing all of this data anyways I should probably share some Personal Bests during my year of running. I was thinking of doing a chart like some of the above but I realized I didn’t really have good data around this. Mostly because I didn’t always stop running right at 3.1 miles, so it would be hard with the data I have to give more meaning than overall bests.

Luckily, Strava has some overall personal bests that I could easily get and all of them except for the 10k came from a race I did in the summer. In looking at the data now, I wish I would have broken the 20 min mark but I can’t really complain as I was never shooting for a specific time. Also, I did well as I was in the top 15 overall and 2nd in my age group.

I actually did 2 races over the past year and surprised myself during both of them with good enough times considering I was running every day with no breaks. Running a 5k a day made me realize that running those 5K races were really nothing. I did them every day so it wasn’t a big deal, I knew I would finish it so then it was just a matter of at what point in the race should I pick up my pace or pass someone.

Conclusion

I never really set out to put any data together when I originally started running. In fact, I didn’t really think about it when I realized that I was actually going to be running for a year. To both of those facts, I might have been a little short-sided, as looking back I would have done things differently in order to make sure I had the data easily available. I would not have used it to change what happened on a day to day basis as my goal was never to run faster or even longer. I did use my Strava data and my Fitbit data to just look back at a given week or compare runs every now and then to see if there was any small progress. However, my ultimate goal was the consistency of doing it every day.

I ran a 5K a day for 365 Days in a row and counting… Most people will think that is crazy and pointless. I have run well over 1131.5 miles over the course of the past year (check out the data analysis of all my runs or give a listen to the Off the Couch podcast I was on talking about it). On September 17th, 2018 I started this journey but I didn’t have the goal of a 5K a day in my mind. Or certainly, my intention was not to do it for an entire year.

Background

I have always been a runner, or so I say I have always been a runner. There was a time I distanced myself from running in my later college years up until about 4 years ago. I actually wrote about it a couple of times ok maybe more than a couple but I wrote about it when I got Back into Running and when I was using Running to Refocus.

There is something great about running as it is just PURE. You can only move as fast as YOU can, as far as YOU want, and as long as YOU can. However, it is all up to YOU to determine what YOU “can” do and what you get out of it.

Planning is Key

Honestly, this is the biggest takeaway I learned over the past year was planning. If you want to make something a priority you need to plan time for it in order for it to be a priority. For me in order to make running a priority in my life, I had to make sure to keep it a priority, and sometimes I had to get creative. I would look at my schedule on a day to day or even a week out and figure out when I planned to run. This sounds a little crazy that on a Sunday night I was already planning on when I was going to run the following Saturday but honestly I had to do it. Not just for when it would make sense to me, like running in the morning, but for my family and other work priorities. I found myself running early in the morning, late at night, and sometimes squeezing it in while my son was at a birthday party. Then there was the weather. That would always through a wrench in it if I would have let it. However, after my habit was formed I just told myself it didn’t matter the weather, rain or shine, snow or ice, 100 degrees and humid or 0 degrees with a negative windchill, I would make sure to get my run in.

Around the Neighborhood

Something that I have enjoyed over the past 4 years of running is exploring my surroundings. In my neighborhood, I have found so many small parks, trails, and green spaces that I didn’t know existed in the first 6 years we lived there. Mostly because I would just drive by and not give it a second look. However, by increasing my mileage as well as the frequency of runs, I found myself exploring more places because I needed more routes and I was going farther.

Also, in my town and some of the surrounding areas, I went to other parks not near my house in order to find a new and interesting place to run. Some of which I then took my family back to so would could all explore at a later time to really take in the scenery.

Enjoying the new scenery on an early evening run that was a lot harder than I anticipated (June 2019, Richard T. Anderson Conservatory, Eden Prairie)

Trail running is always my favorite but I enjoyed the company on this Father’s day run even more. I might need to get her a better bike if we keep this up. (June 2019, Eden Prairie)

Nothing beats a blue sky, ice melting off the pond, and no snow on the trail for a birthday run (March 2019, Eden Prairie)

Finding new trails to run on in my extended area allowed me to find interesting places (June 2019, Bredesen Park, Edina, MN)

Beautiful afternoon running around the lake (May 2019, Rice Marsh Lake, Eden Prairie, MN)

Exploring New Places

Not only did I find some amazing places in my town, but since I travel for work from time to time, I found some even more interesting places while running in various cities. Not only did I explore near my hotel but in some cases, I would drive to find a trail to run on.
Quiet morning run in the streets of Shanghai (May 2019, Shanghai, China)

Fun time exploring Amsterdam this afternoon as I ran along a bunch of canals. Might have gotten a little lost and felt out of place as it doesn’t seem like the streets and sidewalks are geared for runners (September 2009, Amsterdam, Netherlands).

Found an observation deck on my run this morning by the lake… Not a bad view from the top but windy… (April 2019, Observation Deck at Erie Basin Marina, Buffalo, NY)


Running along the Skywalker trail in the early morning hours (May 2019, Skywalker Trail, Sedona, AZ)

What’s Next

Besides breaking in my new Asics pair of shoes as I feel I have gone through quite a few this past year. I might try to take a different approach for this next year. My goal is to get some longer runs in but feel I need to back off on the times per week in order to make that happen. Some of it is because of the time commitment which is partially due to my own schedule but also with the lack of daylight we have right it does add to the challenge. I am guessing it will be a slow transition as I have conditioned my body to run daily it is not super easy to just stop. Trust me I have tried. Till the next update get outside and start exploring your neighborhood.


Shoes, Shoes, Shoes… Amazing how many running shoes you can go through in a given year…

Tuesday Photo Challenge - City

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Radiant

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Trail

Almost perfect early morning reflection (April 2019, Round Lake, Eden Prairie) - Original

As you can probably tell from other things I post about on Social Media or this site, I really do enjoy running. It is something that got lost on me for a long period of time in my life but has really made its way back into my daily routine over the last three of years (Back to Running).

So you can only imagine that when I ran across this new YouTube video series by Ryan Van Duzer called Running with Ryan, you can bet I stopped what I was doing to watch this first episode.

Let's just say it didn’t disappoint as his first guest was Scott and Jenny Jurek who were talking about their record-setting run on the Appalachian Trail as well as the value of doing hard things.  Also, they touch on Scott and Jenny’s book called North as the paperback is coming out soon. However, you can buy the Kindle, Hardback or Audio-book version right now from Amazon. This has been on my want list for a while so after watching this I got the audio version as they said it is narrated by Scott and Jenny. I always find it interesting listening to audio-books that are narrated by the authors.

I would suggest you check out the first video in the Running with Ryan series and if you are like me I am sure you can’t wait till the next one comes out.

Hope you enjoyed the video and be sure to help spread the word of this new series by sharing Ryan’s video as he does some amazing work. Another thing to note from the video that dawned on me again while writing this is during this whole run Ryan had to run while holding a camera. I know I commented on it before when he ran in the Caballo Blanco race, but it is still an amazing feat to hold it steady enough to get the shot and make sure everyone is in focus while running. Which for some people is hard enough already.

Finally, be sure to check out Scott and Jenny Jurek's website as well as I am sure they will be up to more adventure in the near future.

Enjoying the beautiful evening run with a blue sky and sun at 6pm in the evening. I could get used to this time change (March 2019, Eden Prairie)

Glad to have the sun coming up earlier in the mornings these days. I appreciate the sunrise runs vs flashlight ones (March 2019, Minnesota)

I just finished reading Break The Twitch: a practical guide to minimalism, intentional living & doing more of what matters by Anthony Ongaro and it is the perfect book for anyone looking to make a change in your current habits.  I had hoped to finish it right after it came out in December but got caught up in work stuff as I wanted to make sure I could really take time off around Christmas and New Years.  Hindsight 20/20, it is probably a good thing I didn't finish it in December as I would have cringed even more every time a box with specific markings on it arrived at my doorstep before the holidays.

Breaking the Twitch

One of the great things I like about this book is that it really sets the stage early on as the quote below is the first line of the introduction.

People don’t buy products—they buy better versions of themselves.

The book in my mind gets separated into three different parts :

• The introduction of the book is where Anthony talks very specifically about how digging into his Amazon purchasing history he was able to figure out that he was buying so much stuff on a whim. He also briefly dissects some of the purchases he made and his rationale prior to the purchases compared to the actual outcome.
• The second part of the book is where he starts to give more detailed examples and ideas to help you the reader identify places in your life where you might be doing things impulsively. Also, how those impulses can create some really strong habits as he found out personally. Finally, he brings up how technology has maybe helped play a huge role in fostering the habits.
• The final part of the book really brings everything together and talks about strategies to take for breaking bad habits (or Twitches). Additionally, it talks about Minimalism and how that can help play a role in breaking and creating new habits.

Even though the book has the underlying true story of Anthony's Amazon purchases, what he discovered helps provide specific examples of correcting and uncovering bad habits. So if you are you thinking of changing some of your habits this year, the book lays out some good approaches he took for Breaking the Twitch. As you can tell I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone. With that said, most of the stuff in the book isn't rocket science, and the themes of what he is saying most people already know. In my opinion, the value or what sets this book apart is that he does a good job breaking his thoughts down into bits that can be easily tackled.

My Running Story...

Let's be honest if I said we should run a 5k next month, and you haven't run for over a year, your head might spin. At the time it would seem like such a hurdle to climb and you might not even know where to start because you're too focused on the end result and not what could you do TODAY! Or as it is described in the book the Minimal Viable Action.

Minimally Viable Action—the smallest, most immediate step you can take that is doing what you want to do.

For my example, I was that person, and a couple of years ago I decided to just go out and run (in the dead of winter at that) with my non-GPS watch, my old pair of running shoes, and whatever other cold-weather workout clothes (or layers) I could find. I told myself I would run two blocks but after being out there I made it much further and then the next time I made it farther until having to walk. Each time I made it longer and sometimes faster until eventually it was just a habit and I was feeling healthier and had a good routine. When the month was up I realized I had already run a 5k and running another one wasn't going to be an issue.

Some final thoughts…

Reading a book like this helps give you motivation and encouragement as you reflect on yourself. Knowing that you are not alone and others, though on different paths have probably been faced to walk down a similar path.

Remember that simplifying your life and designing a space that aligns with your intentions takes time—as the old adage goes, it is a journey, not a destination.

Anthony Ongaro, Break the Twitch

However, don't just take my word for it since you can read some of the book before you buy, Anthony has posted the introduction chapter of his book on his site which you can find here.

To learn more about the book and see what others had to say check out Anthony's book page on the Break the Twitch site here. If you want to see/follow along with more of Anthony's work you can find him on Twitter @BreakTheTwitch, his website,  and or his YouTube channel. I have been following along since 2016, where during my running example above I wrote about the Power of a Habit and linked so some of his older posts which helped motivate me at that time to push through.

What Twitches or habits have you noticed yourself having that you would like changed? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

Sometimes things happen (Crash!) and it is something that you don’t or aren’t really sure if someone is going to tell you to try again. Or give you that extra encouragement/voice you need to get back up and try it again. After that post, I wasn’t up to what I had hoped for motivation as I struggled to motivate myself in the least.

My instincts were telling me to continue to plug away at this injury slowly and that it was for some reason important to overcome this so I could get out and run like normal. In July I tried again to just get out and run but honestly, I had even less motivation to do that as I blamed my upcoming family vacation and the extra work I needed to do prior to vacation as my crutch.

Then we were finally during the middle of our family trip to the East Coast, and something deep inside me had me throw in my running shoes. Thankfully I did as after nine days into the trip, our final day in Boston before we headed up to Maine, I laced up my shoes to hit the streets. For some reason, I was up really early and figured now is the time to get out and just run around the neighborhood and see the sights of this city I don’t live in.

I am really glad I did! I was able to see the places I had seen the day before but with no one else in sight. In fact, it was just so peaceful out there if it wasn’t that I wanted to get back to the hotel at a specific time I am not sure where I might have ended up.

That one run though helped start me on the path of getting out of my funk. In fact, it kind of reminded me that that is what helps me stay grounded. As I reflect back I was remembering the video I saw that I was going to post around the time of my Crash and was hoping to at a later point in time but completely forgot as I never really got out of that funk.

My example was getting me back to running and I will even say today I am finally feeling 100% back to normal running which is what I have been waiting to say for a long time. Everyone always has something to be down on, depressed about, or are just mopey about something. The challenge is trying to find something that works for you to get out of your current funk or mood.

I have never gone on a run or a bike ride or anything outside and thought back to myself I shouldn’t have done that, that was really dumb to go on a run. Never! It’s always a good thing. - Ryan Van Duzer

The video I have included below by Ryan Van Duzer (@duzer) is what I had watched right before my Crash! and there is some really good nuggets of insight and motivation that he offers while running in the hills of Colorado to get out of his own funk.

I can relate to his methods of remembering there is a whole lot of good things in life. Also, for me, one of the best ways for me to do that when things are stressful at work, home, or just something hard that I need to overcome, is that I just love getting out there to run. It clears my head and gives me a good start or end to the day.

Now it is your turn, what do you do in order to get out of a funk or slump? Leave it in the comments below.

I had a great post for you a couple of weeks back I was in a slump about running and getting motivated to get out and run every morning.  I was thinking now that I am back at it 100% and fully motivated it would be a great time to share but then this happened this morning:

That picture was taken well after the run, a painful shower, and three bandage changes later.  Though that wasn’t it as I really twisted my ankle and have a couple bruised ribs (or that is what the doctor told me).  Also, my iPhone took a good fall on the pavement as I normally run with it and that was the arm that broke the rest of my fall.  Overall, nothing major was broken or damaged but I am a little slower moving today.

You might be wondering how this happened and I wish it was a much more glamorous story.  I was running along like normal on the sidewalk but on a rougher part of asphalt and my foot must have hit a dip wrong and my ankle twisted bad and there was no coming back from that.  I broke my fall with my hand for the most part that was under my chest.  I quickly rolled over into the grass and said some choice words to the sky as I knew my iPhone was on my arm that broke the fall.  I got up quickly as well and noticed a lady stopped in her vehicle asking if I was ok.  I said I was all good and started to jog off.  After two blocks and I knew I was dripping blood from my hand and knees I decided to stop and just walk the remainder of the way home as I also knew my ankle was tender but probably not broken.  On the walk home I realized I had a lot of pain in my chest as well which ultimately is probably bruised or cracked rib.

Sooo… stay tuned and I will still post it (probably Monday) as I might need some more motivation after I get all healed up.

For anyone who has read the book Born to Run or enjoys running, in general, needs to check out this series of videos that Ryan Van Duzer put together of his trek down to run the Caballo Blanco Ultra Marathon earlier this year.

"You can't feel pain if your smiling... right?" - Ryan Van Duzer

That was a perfect quote he had at the very beginning and was fitting since he was smiling during what appeared to be the last couple of miles at the end of the video.  Honestly, being a runner myself, after watching this video I was ready to strap on my shoes and hit the trails.

Take note, not only is the feat of running 50 miles in a single time amazing but remember he did it all while carrying the video camera to capture this amazing event on film too.  If you are looking to be motivated you should definitely check this video out.

Here is the entire playlist so you can start from the beginning and watch all 6 episodes.

Finally, as amazing as these videos are, Ryan has made a bunch of other amazing videos and I don't see that stopping anytime soon so be sure Subscribe to his YouTube channel, and follow him on Instagram (you can also find him on Facebook, and Twitter).

Running through the streets of new places is always worth it, you can always find something interesting (The Electronic Tower, January 2017, Buffalo, NY)

A little over a week ago I was not feeling like myself, in fact, my muscles were sore like I just ran a marathon and did 1000 push-ups at the same time.  I have never had that feeling before and it lasted for quite some time which was concerning.  I actually ended up going to the doctor after day two but all they told me was that it was probably some sort of virus.  Gee thanks for the help doc.

I am happy to say as of this past Monday I was back to myself and feeling 100% again.  I have never had a sickness make my whole body feel like that before and I hope I don’t have it again anytime soon.

Over the past weekend (and through this week), as I was starting to feel better slowly I was reflecting on how bad I felt last week and I realized that I was really bothered by feeling so out of it that whole week.  It wasn’t that the doctors didn’t give me any great advice or cure and it also wasn’t that I was worried I wouldn’t get better (well OK maybe at one point I was a little worried).

What was really bothering me last week was that I never stepped foot outside in the early morning to run!  There were so many times during that week that all I wanted to do was wake up earlier, lace up my shoes, listen to a favorite Podcast or new audiobook, and hit the streets. However, I never did run at all that week as I knew resting my sore body and allowing it to fight whatever virus I had was the best solution.  Thinking back about it now I think the reason it really bothered me was that I had been running at a minimum of 2-3 times per week since January 1st and I was worried that if I didn’t get back out there I might lose the motivation/habit I have created thus far.

It is truly amazing the power of habits (good or bad ones), that once you have formed a habit over a long period of time and stray from it, it can bother you to your core.

I am happy to report, though, I didn’t lose the motivation/habit as of this morning I hit my 3rd run of the week which is pretty normal for me as I try to run Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the early mornings.  That schedule has helped me create this habit over time but now that it is more of a routine I am flexible in missing a morning/day as things come up as I know I will find the time to run another day.  Trying to mentally set a schedule or number of times in a given week was something I knew I needed in order to hold myself accountable of my 2016 goal of running.  Some other tips/tricks I have found this year to which have helped to reinforce my habit, especially at the beginning was to just get out there and do it.  As much or little as I could, in the beginning, it didn’t matter as long as I was running during the week.  Another tip I have found is to just talk about it.  I know that sounds a little silly but by talking about running with others and on this blog actually helps energize me to run again and keep the motivation as I have this other strange feeling that I would be letting someone else down.

How about you?  Have you done something so frequently that when you stopped or took a break from it you were scared you could never start up again?  Or have you found any tips or tricks to keep yourself motivated to do something that you want to stick to, I would love to hear about it in the comments below?

Check out a previous post I had this year early on talking about the Power of the Habit.

It was one of those perfect nights outside earlier this week when the moon was really bright making it super easy to go on a longer run when my first thought was to keep it short as I had some work to get done.  However, the glow from the moon and the warm weather was just too perfect to pass on the opportunity to complete my Virtual 5k for the upcoming #Run3rd 5k event I signed up for.

Now you are probably asking, as I was 2 years ago, what the heck is a virtual running race and what difference is it than just going out on a run and completing a 5k?  Honestly, there isn’t much difference unless you want to feel that extra push to complete a 5k and make it act like a race.  The thing that really appealed to me about this specific race was the already strong presence of a community around this #Run3rd theme.  The concept has been out there for a while so with that drove a good turnout in year one as people wanted to be a part of the Virtual race and as they finished they would share their experiences on Facebook and Twitter.  The other positive of just a virtual race in general for me is that I didn’t have to travel anywhere and didn’t have to give up my weekend as a normal race would probably last all morning with events and registration.  The actual race they have is on Saturday, April 2nd in Mesa, Arizona and it seems like as of today you can still register for the actual event or virtual one (http://www.run3rd5k.com/).

Now you might be wondering what this #Run3rd movement/community is and instead of having me try to explain it I would suggest you go read about it here and/or watch the video below, which is really the mission statement and tells a good story.

“I run 1st for myself, I run 2nd for my family, I #Run3rd for you.” - Sean Astin

The thing that drew me in was that I felt like where I am in my life today I align with the mission statement of #Run3rd.  I just had never thought of it that way but it does put some things into perspective.

PS - One cool benefit even doing the Virtual #Run3rd 5k, if you are on the fence about it, is that you still get a finisher medal as well as a cool t-shirt.

Edit: Here is the cool shirt and medal I got for the 2016 run and I can’t wait till next year!

I was telling my wife last night about how running at night sometimes plays tricks with your mind.  Most of the time it is when someone suddenly comes up out of nowhere and is walking/running at you, behind you, or just someone in the shadows of their house porch coughs or starts talking to someone on the phone.

That reminded her of this great video she shared with me by comedian Michael Jr. and I couldn’t help myself but pass it along.

via A Brother Jogging - YouTube.

Here it was 9:30 pm at night and I was just going to quickly finish writing a blog post I had started a couple of days back, but I was stuck and it felt like it was taking me too long to write.  It wasn’t just flowing out like some of the ones last week did.  Then I realized that it is getting pretty late and I really wanted to get a run in tonight.

So…. I went for a run.

During my run, I reflected on how I have been having so much momentum with this blog and I should have just finished that blog post since I haven’t made a post since last Friday.  Once I completed my run, feeling refreshed and motivated, I was reminded of a quote about why running appealed to Bernd Heinrich who was being interviewed in a video series titled “Why We Run” (video is at the end of this post).

It appealed to me because I could do it all the time where every I was, no matter where I could always run. - Bernd Heinrich

This year as I have refound my love for running I have tried to embrace a quote like that.  I have been running on some cold days and very dark nights.  However, for me, it is time well spent and the motivation I feel from going for a run is just too good to pass up.  Now I know I didn’t publish the actual blog post I was working on but I was stuck and needed to run away for a while.  In fact, as a result, of my run, I realized it helped motivate me to write/share something instead of having it feel forced.

Now for a question, when you get writers' block, or writing seems slow, doesn’t flow, or feels forced how do you get through it or refocus?  Leave me your thoughts or tips in the comments as I would love to know how you refocus.

via “Why We Run” - Salomon Running TV S03 E01 on YouTube.

Yep, I was the person outside in Minnesota on January 9 when it was -4 degrees running around the streets.

However, since then the weather has been mostly above 0 when I go out on my runs even though most of the time it is around 9:30 pm.  Honestly, I wish I had a better time to do it but I have tried to create a habit in 2016 of running and I tell myself that if night running is my only time, then night running it is.

###Some Background

Now, for fun here is a little background on my running, I used to be a runner back in High School (long ago) and loved running, still do, but I lost the actual urge to run as I fell into a busy trap.  I could find lots of excuses after college, heck even in college.  I ran off and on my Freshman and Sophomore year just as something to do as at that point I wasn’t too buried in the books.  However, I took it up a notch the summer before my Junior year as I conned my brother into running the Twin Cities Marathon with me in October.  I ran ever day all summer no matter what and sometimes 2x per day.  However, once school started up in the fall I never really found time to run as I made excuses.  Never fear, though, I was young and determined to still run the Marathon and I actually finished with very little walking.  However, since that day I have always made excuses and let the excuses win.  I would try from time to time but never keep the momentum.  In fact in spring, summer, and fall of 2015, I think I went on a couple weeks worth of running and then stopped.  Part of my problem I found was I wasn’t making the right choice or prioritizing my time correctly and my excuse was always that I could never find the right “time” to run.

###Starting over again

Fast forward to the start of 2016 and something clicked.  It might have been some of the changes in my life that occurred in 2015, or that I wouldn’t mind losing a couple pounds, or maybe I finally remembered that I love running and gives me time to think.  I am honest with myself in knowing that I will not run every day but I would like to run a couple times a week.

There is something great about running as it is just pure.  You can only move as fast as you can, as far as you can, and as long as you can.  However, it is all up to you to determine what you “can” do and what you get out of it.

For me right now I am not worried about the distance, or speed, or length as I just enjoy putting my shoes and going for a run, even if it is below 0.