30 Days of #GratefulRunning

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I tried taking cold showers for 30 days once. I lasted two days. Maybe there are health and environmental benefits, but I just don't care.

Ditto on my effort to give up coffee for 30 days. Just no. Coffee and I have too much of a thing going.

Otherwise, I've been pretty good about sticking to 30-day challenges in the past couple of years. Most have been centered around exercise--pushups, burpees, pullups. And one related to writing, with a commitment to sit down for 30 minutes of writing each day.

I have managed to keep going with most of these activities after the 30 days--except for burpees, which science has proven were invented in the darkest corner of hell.

For my most recent challenge, I took on gratitude. Specifically, gratitude as it relates to running. For years now, I have seen articles, listicles, and and even a TED Talk on the value of being deliberate and intentional with gratitude.

And yet...

All of my attempts at keeping a gratitude journal have lasted as long as my attempts at taking cold showers.

I think that having the artificial accountability measure of posting to Twitter helped. As I noted in one of my entries, this ended up being a good 30 day stretch to begin this practice. I managed to bruise a rib bad enough that I was unable to run for a week. It only hurt every time I took a breath. Once recovered from that, I picked up a stomach thing and another week passed with limited exercise.

In days past, these were the kinds of hiccups that would throw me into an emotional and physical tailspin. And while there was some spinning happening, I truly believe that each day's small moment of gratitude helped to slow it down just a little.

So if you enjoy running and you are looking for a new winter challenge, give #GratefulRunning a try. You won't be alone.



























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