Although the date does not appear, this is from my iPhone on my birthday
The “Bad Idea Birthday Challenge” is not something I came up with. A guy that is also a former employee of my previous company is a marathon runner and the concept belongs to him (but he calls it Bad Idea Birthday Run). He and I were part of the Wellness Committee for our former company so we always came up with different fitness challenges. His version is that on, or around, his birthday he runs his age in miles. As I said previously, he is a marathon runner so that is something that I will NEVER accomplish. However that doesn’t mean I didn’t find inspiration in it.
Bad Idea Birthday Challenge Accepted!
A couple of weeks ago I fully ran 3.3 miles (meaning I never slowed down to walk). So today, on my birthday, I divided my age by 10 and made that my birthday challenge. I thought that since I can go 3.3 for no reason at all, and in the spirit of “bad ideas”, I just need to go an extra half mile. As you can see from the screenshot from my iPhone Fitbit app, challenge completed.
The good news. I am less than 6 weeks away from the Flying Pig 5K race and I am already running more than 3.1 miles. The bad news. If my right knee could speak right now I would just be a constant, reoccurring line of expletives. “Icing my knees” (inside joke there) and a Tylenol and Advil cocktail will probably be in my immediate future.
Why Is It A “Bad Idea”?
The dichotomy is where the “bad idea” exists. You see the older you get the farther the distance. On the other hand, the older you get the harder it is to maintain your endurance. It truly is a mind-over-matter (but-don’t-kill-yourself) exercise goal. My friends on trying to convince me to try running a 10K next year. I guess working my way up to 4 miles is one way to work toward that goal.
Granted I do wish I would have started something like this 20 years ago but I didn’t know Wes back then. He’s my inspiration for doing this, “bad idea” or not.
/cheers
I could accomplish so much more if I only had minions!