Streaking

Whoa, looks like time got away from me there! When you're busy re-building and living your life, you forget things like your blog. Got lots to say and time to make up! So let's dive right in shall we?

STREAKING, not the kind where you have too much beer, strip naked and go running down your street. But this is the kind that most people think of when I mention that I'm a streaker. I almost always have to qualify it by saying, "run streaker". In an effort to stop those nasty thoughts of some 40 something dad running in his birthday suit through your neighborhood at 3AM, let's nail down what it actually is.

Streak running has probably been around for sometime throughout the US. But it wasn't officially mentioned in the running community until December of 1994 in an issue of the magazine Running Times. Running has a tendency to bring out the need to record every damn minute detail of the act every time that you do it, weather, distance, time, etc. And streakers are no exception to this rule. As a result, in August of 2000 the US Running Streak Association or USRSA was born in Maryland. The very first registry had 16 runners of streaks that were less than one mile daily. Apparently the idea of running every day was more than just a crazy idea. In October of 2001 a survey was sent out to all known streakers on what should constitute a streak. The first registry was retired with streakers with streaks that were less than one mile daily purged leaving 86 active active streakers.

The official definition of a "running streak" as adopted by USRSA became as follows:

 "to run at least one mile (1.61 kilometers) within each calendar day. Running may occur on either the roads, a track, over hill and dale, or on a treadmill."

I'd love to run over a dale someday! The streak must be in effect for one year before runners are eligible to have their streak listed on the retired or active lists. There's an annul fee, but no "streak police". The streaks exist on the honor system. But if there was ever some question to whether a streak was legitimate, then training logs or GPS data could supposedly be called up as proof. On a side note, if they ever start need "streak policeman" I'm so there as my retirement job! 

In 2012 the USRSA  came to be also named Streak Runners International or SRI to start including streaks from runners living outside the US. American runners aren't the only crazy ones on the planet. The international registry now has members from South Africa, Sweden, Germany and Australia to just name a few. The US and international registries are continually updated and there's even a quarterly newsletter that goes out to existing members.

As the date of this post, the longest active US streak is held by Jon Sutherland from West Hills, CA with a streak lasting over 48 years. The longest active international streak is held by Frank Clarke from Kloof, ZA with a streak lasting over 40 years. It's just incredible to think that between these two runners there's 88 years total of consecutive running!

When I started running (not streaking) way back in 2002 I was just happy to be able to run a couple of times a week. I was never an athletic kid growing up. I originally got involved with it as a way to stay fit for my career in law enforcement. My big goal was to run a local 10K at the largest free outdoor festival in North America, our Lilac Festival. I eventually reached my goal and quickly became a huge fan of running and racing. A couple of days turned into several times a week, then to all but one day a week. Flash forward 16 years, four more Lilac 10K's, 88 other races with distances ranging from a mile to 50K. I finally put that little fat kid to bed and considered myself a serious runner. I'd heard of runners who streaked and ran everyday. But considered them a little nuts. 

One of the best things about social media, is that unlike the rest of the world, the running online community is a tightly knit, positive group of runners from every corner of the globe who routinely share their stories, friendship and inspirations. My feed's only typically filled with negativity by my non-running friends. In early 2012 I met Coach Judy Mick online through that community. We immediately hit it off. She was super friendly, knew her running stuff, but was one of those crazy streakers. Well, it didn't take very long for her to work her streak magic on me and on New Year's Eve of that year I started my first running streak. Pledging myself to a year and a day of consecutive running, or the 366 Project as I called it. After running so long, I thought that I'd experienced everything there was. I was soon to find out that I was wrong.

The streaking community was a step above the regular running one. And while I'd seen some really cool things while running, streaking has a way of showing you what's in between. I'll never forget the memories of endless summer sunsets, running laps in my basement on my 40th birthday, the laughter of tricker treaters, 70 degree weather on a Christmas Eve and the silence of a trail on a winter's morning during a blizzard that dropped knee high snow. Streaking makes you appreciate the gift of being out there everyday to see things like that.

Then at 609 days it all stopped way too suddenly after a severe back injury. To this day, not really sure what caused it. Maybe some excessive landscaping? But one thing was for sure, running didn't cause it. Couple of herniated discs and a scary diagnosis, spinal stenosis. Which is basically the narrowing of the spinal column over time. I was told there was a possibility that my career and my running may be over. I had to take over three months off from work. I could barely stand for more than a minute and walking anywhere was next to impossible. Looking back now, it was probably one of the hardest things that I've ever had to deal with in my life. For someone who'd gone so far, done so much, it was unbearably heartbreaking to stop everything all at once. I suffered through painful spinal steroid injections that had the potential of causing total paralysis, did an hour and a half of PT every day and worked hard to stay positive. But it was challenging because through my life I'd done a great job of making running an integral part of who I was. It was everywhere, from the tattoos on my body, to my social media feeds, even embedded in my memories of pushing my son in a running stroller the first four years of his life. I was positive often. But I'd be lying if I said that I was like that everyday. 

The experience taught me many things. Almost too much to even write down here. But some of the greatest were also some of the most simple:

Do your own research.
Surround yourself with positive people.
Ask for help if you need it.
Be thankful for the good people in your life.
Respect the gift of running, even when it's hard.
Never say die.

And just like that I decided that I'd had enough of being in a holding pattern for three months. It was pretty clear early on that I was never going to be the runner that I once was. And it was also obvious that part of my life was always going to include a degree of pain. I'd reached a point in the healing process where I plateaued. Things weren't getting worse or any better. I decided to go back to work and start running again. Honestly I wasn't ready for either. I still had a great deal of pain and spinal shifting which made me lean to one side. But I'm a stubborn guy. I don't do patience.

The new year came and went. Despite jumping back into everything too early, I was holding my own. Not getting worse and slowly feeling stronger. I reached out to Coach Judy to see if she could give me any pointers on training for a marathon after having a back injury. I wanted to race like I used to again. She admitted that she didn't have any experience training someone back from my type of injury. But gorgeously offered to have me be her first test subject if I was interested in her coaching me. And that's how I came to know one of the finest coaches and friends in my life.

Even though I was a knowledgeable runner, she's taught me so many different things, pushed my limits and given me something I'd been lacking all these years, an objective view of my running. I highly recommend hiring her as a coach. You may not like her on speed and hill workout days, but she doesn't mind. Her presence in my life and her training were so motivating that on January 25th of 2015 I started streaking again. Partly because I missed it and partly because I thought that I'd never be the fast runner that I was before and needed a new goal.

1,225 days and 5,171 miles later the streak is still going strong. I had a slight relapse about a year into it. But with my new found coach, a new chiropractor and some spinal decompression the streak held. I healed, raced, put up some respectable mileage again and learned that quality is better than quantity. It's true, I'm not the runner that I once was, I'm better I think. There's been slow days and ones where I was even faster than I used to be. There's been good races and bad ones that felt like a death march. Good training cycles and bad ones where I felt like I missed something entirely. But one thing that has remained the same, change. Life never stands still, always evolving. And I can respect that, because neither can I. I've managed to conquer that 50K distance I was gunning for before my injury. And this year I'll try to go even 20 miles farther for my first 50 miler. I do so love a good challenge. 

Streaking isn't for everyone. Yes, we're all a little nuts. But there must be something good to it because every year it draws runners from across the globe to join our ranks. Life is about where your frame of reference is. If you think you couldn't possibly do something, then you definitely won't. But if you entertain the thought that you could, then the possibilities are always limitless. After all, it's only a mile a day.

Spinal stenosis means that someday my spinal column will narrow to the point that running and walking won't be an option. Knowing that could fill someone with a sense of dread and despair. But it instead fills me with a sense of gratitude and appreciation for everything running and streaking has given me. When that day comes, it'll be an ending to one of the most inspiring things I've ever done for myself. I know I'll miss running everyday. But don't count me out. There's room for a wheelchair division on the registry.

On words and upwards my friends...