2022 Running Challenge: Quarterly Check-In

It’s time for my first official update on my New Year’s Running Challenge Resolution (though I’m a bit delayed since I’d been hoping to have posted this by the start of April)!

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, that’s ok, I’ll fill you in quickly!

This year, I decided that I would challenge myself by running across my home state of Florida (406 miles) by the end of the year (virtually of course). According to Google Maps, 406 miles is the equivalent of running from Key Largo to Jacksonville (read my “Running Across Florida: My New Year’s Resolution” if you want the full details).

To stay on track to “run across Florida” in 2022, I need to average about 33.8 miles each month.

January (Month 1) Check-In: 16 miles total

January was a roller coaster of feelings… excitement, frustration, and happiness.

New Year’s Resolutions are supposed to be a challenge, yet why is it that once you decide on one, they always seem completely manageable?

Like yes, I can challenge myself ALL YEAR LONG.

Piece. Of. Cake.

If only it was that easy. 

Like most people, I was really excited to start my challenge and couldn’t wait to start. I had developed a small flare during the holidays (mostly pleurisy, aka inflammation of the lining of the lungs) but I was pretty confident that a few days of rest was all I needed and I’d be ready in time to start running by the end of the first week in January.

Soon week two of the new year came and went – and still there was no running in sight.

Then reality hit. 

I realized that the “small” flare wasn’t going away as quickly as I thought it would.

I was having a hard time doing the simplest everyday things (imagine stabbing pains in your chest every time you take a deep breath or laugh) and I was forced to go back on my steroid medications (which I had literally just tapered off of). 

Fun Fact: When I say “off the steroid meds,” I mean that this was literally the first time in 13+ years that I had been COMPLETELY off all of my steroids (not off all my medications but at least off of all my steroids). For my fellow Lupies out there, you know this is a huge milestone (and one I am hoping continues).

I wasn’t frustrated with the pain (it’s not that you get used to it after a decade, but I guess in some ways you do and somewhere along way, the pain becomes normal) or the fact I was back on the roids. The frustration stemmed only from the simple fact that I couldn’t run and I was falling behind in my challenge all because my body was taking a “tantrum”.

But the icing on the cake (ok I just realized this is my second cake reference…. I must be hungry) was that this flare was preventing me from running.

Ironically, this was the part that was the most frustrating.

Maybe it’s silly but wIth each passing day of not running, I grew more and more frustrated.

But finally, a little into week three of January, my chest pains started to get better, I was back off the steroids, and I finally got to the point where I could start running again!

I couldn’t run far and my speed was slow but that didn’t matter because I was just so happy to be able to start running again.

Even though this wasn’t the start I had expected, I was proud to have completed these miles and I left January feeling hopeful that I would carry on the momentum into February.

February (Month 2) Check-In: 44 miles (total = 60/406 miles)!

Miles. Miles. Miles.

I went into February knowing that I had miles to make up but I was hopeful that I could continue on with the momentum I finally found at the very end of January. 

To stay on track to “run across Florida” in 2022, I need to average about 33.8 miles each month. So my main goal for February was to “make up” some of the lost miles from January and just to log as many miles as I could.

No focus on speed, just miles!

I didn’t quite make up all the miles I needed to stay on track but I came pretty close (~7 miles shy). February turned out to be a great month for me, I was proud at how far I’d come and I left it feeling confident. 

March (Month 3) Check-In: 67.1  miles (107.2/406 miles total)!

March was all about learning patience and acceptance.

The year was 2019 (the year before COVID hit). I had been at my running “prime” and ran a total of 645 miles that year. I had run my longest distance to date (6.7 miles straight), competed in a few races (I even managed to place 3rd in my age group at a small local race), and enjoyed the challenge of pushing myself to faster speeds and longer runs.

On my short runs, you could hear me saying, “I’m only going for a 3 mile run”  (yes, I know, I was THAT person).

Then COVID hit and somewhere along the way, running became a thing of the past. 

Fast forward to 2022, not only was I coming back from a year of no running, I had just finished tapering off my steroids for the first time in 13+ years. 

That means during this transition, now more than ever, I have to listen to my body and be mindful of things that can trigger a flare (including pushing myself too much with physical exercise).

So of course, this is when genius me decided to start my running challenge. 

All those miles I had run before, were all run with the “help” of my medical steroids (not that it “helped” me to run, but it sure helped lessen and prevent lupus-symptoms like joint pain or pleurisy).

So it’s been a mind and body battle between old me (i.e, the amateur runner I was with steroids, running 6+ miles straight, logging 600+ miles a year, etc.) and the new me (i.e., the runner just learning to balance life without steroids and avoiding flare triggers). 

It’s been a mind and body battle. 

Logically I know that I shouldn’t be pushing myself too hard and I should start off slow but then my mind remembers what it was capable of running before and wants me to kick it up a notch. 

Sometimes I end up listening to the old me and push myself just a little bit too much resulting in achy and swollen joints, fatigue, back pain, heel spurs, sore muscles, ice packs, BioFreeze gel, Tylenol, and days of rest. 

What does a small flare look like? A “good” flare is achy and swollen joints, sleeping sitting up, fatigue, back pain, heel spurs, sore muscles, ice packs, BioFreeze gel, Tylenol, and days of rest. But if this is the worse that my flares get without steroids, I will be a happy camper!

This sometimes makes me feel a bit frustrated with the limitations on my body,  but at the same time, I feel so proud of myself. I’ve been able to be physically active and run as much as I have without the help of steroids.

I’m learning to be patient with my body and accepting that I need to take things slow (at least I’m trying to). 

In terms of running, I might not be exactly where I want to be right now, but everyday I’m feeling just a little bit stronger.

Keeping You In the Loop

Join Me!
I plan on checking in here every few months but you can also follow my progress a little more frequently on Instagram.

If anyone is interested in joining me virtually for my run across Florida, I’d love the “company”(even if it’s only to walk a few miles)!