I first got in touch with Lisa last summer – she was following the #RUN70 journey on Insta and reached out to share a challenge of her own she was pursuing. Lisa is an entrepreneur that owns a Toronto-based vegan food company called Earth + City. They prepare healthy, fresh, plant-based food in tandem with the Ontario growing season. Last June, Lisa set a goal to run 5 kilometres for 30 consecutive days and at the time, was trying to juggle running a business while fulfilling her role as a new parent. She knew it would be arduous, but still managed to complete the goal she set for herself. Lisa is really awesome and I’m excited to share her story.
Initially, I was inspired by two runners on Instagram who were trying to see how many kilometres they could run in one month. They were competing against each other and it was really fun to follow along. I decided to see if I could run 100km in one month (which I did!) Because the volume of these others runners was so crazy high, I became curious about what I could possibly do. Once that month was over, I wanted another challenge. I had been following Emily on Instagram too – when I saw that she was taking on the consecutive half marathon record, I couldn’t quite believe it! It was such an incredible goal. Since I was in the mood for another challenge, I decided to try a streak for the month of June, choosing to run at least 5km a day. My wife had given birth to our son in March, so having an infant at home meant that I wanted to keep the distance manageable, hence the choice of 5km. I wanted something I know I could do, even on sleep deprived legs.
I’ve been a runner since 2009, varying in intensity throughout the years. I ran my first full marathon in October of 2016 and so was running a lot up until then. I took some down time after the marathon. When our son was born, I was worried that I would have to take a big break from running. But shortly after his arrival, I realized that I needed to keep moving to stay centred and grounded. I was running approximately 3 days a week before the challenge.
I wasn’t doubtful of my ability to achieve the goal of 30 consecutive 5kms, but I did worry that I might find myself too tired some days. Being a new parent made it extra challenging!
I truly feel that the challenge helped me get my “running legs” back. Before the 100km month and then the consecutive days in June challenges, I wasn’t very focused in my running. I felt a little lost after the big effort of the full marathon training the previous fall. Once i did the consecutive days challenge, I felt a new sense of purpose and engagement with my running. I ended up getting into trail running that summer, which has developed into a huge passion of mine. I’m even taking on my first 50km this August! Quite clearly, the challenge positively impacted my life!
I wouldn’t really say that the challenge impacted other areas of my life specifically. However, I suppose it helped me see that there are actually a lot of usable hours in each day! Before the challenge, I often felt like there wasn’t enough time to fit everything in, but after committing to the consistency of “5km a day”, I saw that there really are lots of creative ways to fit into a day the things that you care about the most.