In honor of my *gulp* 33rd birthday (err, the 4th anniversary of my 29th birthday), I’ve decided to do a 33-day running streak that culminates on the big day. It’s an ideal time since I’m not really training for anything in particular. This will also complete my last annual goal (hey, it’s not a calendar month but it still counts).

This is all, of course, contingent on how my ankle feels while I’m doing this. I rested it for a week before testing it out on a run, and it’s definitely still aggravated. If this streak starts angering it, I plan on immediately stopping. It’s not an important goal by any means.

So, here are the rules:

• The US Running Streak Association says you need to run a mile for the streak to count. I’m going to aim for 3.3 miles on most days, but obviously, I will probably only do a mile or so on days when I feel like I need a break and around races. Ideally, I’d like to stay around 20 miles per week, as this should give me a nice base for half marathon training which starts immediately after the streak ends.
• Almost all of the runs should be easy runs. I don’t want to get injured.
• The streak starts on October 15th and ends on November 16th.

I think the most challenging part of the streak are the days where I’m going to have to get up early and run before work because I have too much going on in the evening (now that it’s HOCKEY SEASON, yay!). I am not good at getting up any earlier than I have to, although I did manage to do it for the 21 Day Fix. I just suspect that it will be harder when I actually have to leave my house.

I also know that I’m going to be tempted to run faster than I should, so if anyone out there is slower than me and wants a running buddy, pick me! I need someone to keep me slow! I also foresee a lot of treadmill running because (a) I can make sure I’m not going too fast and (b) it’s getting too dark to run in the evenings.

I have three races planned during the streak period: the Go Commando 5k on October 18th, the Halloween Hunt on October 25th, and the Hammer Down 10k on November 15th. The streak was supposed to end with the Rockin’ Marathon Relay, but they cancelled it due to lack of participation. (Probably because they didn’t advertise it ANYWHERE. RIP, team Running for Birthday Cake.) So I replaced that with the Hammer Down for my racing birthday celebration; hopefully I won’t come in dead last like last year’s birthday race!

I’ll be using the hashtag #streakfor33 on Instagram and possibly other social networks, so if anyone wants to help celebrate my birth by running (haha, yeah right), feel free to use it!

Here’s to streaking!