Runfession #6 – January 2020 – Ragnar 31 Day Challenge Review

Happy New Year, my dear friends in the Blogosphere! The end of the year always seems to go so fast, hence my reason for missing the December 2019 Runfession. That just means there is SO MUCH MORE I have to runfess this time! Check out more January runfessions at Marcia’s Healthy Slice!

Forgive me Saucony for I have sinned….

I runfess…January has always been a hard time for me to run or workout. When I lived in New Hampshire, I would usually hibernate from November until March, storing fat and sleeping, until the weather got warm enough for outdoor runs. I would usually gain a pound or two or ten but that would usually come off when I got back into my regular running routine. When I was living in California, it never got cold enough to hibernate so my workouts were pretty consistent throughout the year.

We’ve since moved back to the East Coast and have enjoyed having seasons again. However, since getting older, I’ve found that my body really can’t hibernate from running and working out anymore. My metabolism has definitely slowed down and the weight has been clinging to my frame like a baby monkey on it’s mother’s back (or her ass and thighs).

So, I was really excited when my women’s running group joined with Ragnar for the Ragnar 31 Day Challenge for the month of January. We joined as a chapter with a lot of other chapters and other running groups throughout the USA and logged all our workouts for the entire month. If you log in a certain amount, you got certain perks from Ragnar.

My running chapter had 29 participants and we logged 532 activities for the entire month of January! Not bad for a bunch of women, mostly moms, who deal with sick kids, sick partners, snow days, and other calamities that always seem to cluster around cold weather holidays.

Ragnar also provided us with some goodies for a special cross training event. We had ours on January 25, since we got dumped with snow on our original date of January 18th. However, January 25th wasn’t any better. It was a cold and rainy morning and windy, you know the kind that makes the rain come in sideways? We had a lot of cancelations that day, however four of our members braved the weather and we had a fabulous workout! Ragnar provided us with a pair of dice – one that had different types of workouts on it and the other with the number of repetitions of that workout that we needed to do. They took pity on on and let us divide the number of repetitions among the number of people in each group. This was key since I know I would have died doing 80 burpees in a row!

We held the Ragnar event in a parking garage and made use of the ramps for some hill work along with the cross-training challenge. We would run up and down the ramps, head back to the start, roll the dice, do the workout indicated by the dice then head back out to run up and down the ramps again. Overall, we did a 5K and I don’t even know how many jumping jacks, squat jumps, and mountain climbers. Ironically, no one rolled burpees as one of the workouts!

Ragnar really knows how to jump start the new year! I’m so glad my running group partnered with them for this challenge!

I runfess…I am competitive. There I said it. I usually act like I’m not since I’m afraid of failure but I love being pushed past my limits. So I was very excited to have two challenges for February!

First, is the Taji 100. This is my 2nd year seriously doing this challenge. I have my friend, Katie Y in CA, to thank for introducing me to this challenge and keeping me accountable! One hundred miles in the month of February seemed like such a daunting task last year, but this year, it seems more within reach.

Second, is our chapter’s own Cupid Shuffle, put together by one of our chapter leaders, Meghan. This is a team endeavor where groups of 4 keep track of their step count for the month. The team with the most steps for the month win bragging rights!

Logging more miles this month will translate into more steps so for me it will be a win-win. The trick will be finding a balance between getting in miles/steps and keeping up with other obligations (like cleaning, laundry, etc.) ‘cuz if I had a choice between working out and cleaning the bathroom, well, I runfess that the bathroom will lose every time!

©️ 2020 iido