Up for a December running challenge?

100 miles — or any distance you choose — by the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve

It doesn’t quite look like this where I live, but we’re already hitting the 30s in the mornings 🥶

I know, I know.

Thanksgiving is just barely in the rear-view mirror, and it’ll be December in a couple of days. The holiday season is almost here, which means it’s time to slow down a little, take it easy, rest up.

(No need to worry, we’re going to do all those things.)

Still, part of me wants to shake off the cobwebs and finish my year with a nice burst of running by aiming towards a goal — especially since I know myself by now, and how much I’m going to enjoy all the food the holiday season brings; it’d be nice to end the year not feeling like Jabba the Hutt, wouldn’t it?

So here’s what I have in mind:

Let’s do a December running challenge together, only we take it down a notch: you set the goal that’s meaningful for you, whether that’s running every day, a certain number of miles/kilometers for the month, or a number of runs that makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something worthwhile, whether that’s one or two (or six or seven) runs a week.

I’ll post a check-in each day during the month — starting December 1 — in the Chat area of the Substack app and in our Strava group. I always love hearing how you’re doing with your running, and these apps give us a really easy way to keep in touch.

For me, I’m going to shoot for 80 to 85 miles for the month. That’s a goal I feel pretty confident I can reach by December 31, and I’ll feel really excited if I can hit 100 miles — I’ll consider that my “stretch” goal.

I hope you’ll join me; I think this will be a great way to keep in shape for running so we’re not starting from zero on January 1, while also not pushing ourselves too hard — I love this advice from one of my running heroes, Kara Goucher, about why we should make most of our runs easy runs:

“There are two main categories of runs: hard runs and easy runs. Hard runs are things like tempo running, hills, interval running on the track, that sort of thing. Easy runs are… easy runs! Happily, even if you start training for races and get serious about competition, they’re also the type of runs you need to do most often. As long as you keep the pace comfortable and avoid running farther than you are ready to go, these runs will give your body a solid foundation. Actually, as a new runner, all your runs should be easy runs until you have created your foundation, then you can move on to more challenging runs. Or not. Some runners only do easy running for their entire lives, and that’s fine too!”

That’s really it — I’m excited to get started with you all! Until this Friday, Dec. 1, figure out what your goal is, and have a great run out there — and feel free to reach out with any questions!

Your friend,

— Terrell