#Runvember Debrief
Every time I set OzSquadders a little challenge, I always wonder ‘Is this going work?’, ‘Are people really going to do it just because I say so?’.
I should know by now not to worry. You can’t keep an OzSquadder away from the chance of winning a lucky bag.
The #Runvember challenge consisted of running 5k every day for all of November, or at least running 5k more often than you would usually. The point of the challenge was to get everyone moving more before the onslaught of the silly season, to shake up existing exercise routines and to prove that you CAN fit in a sneaky run before, during or after work.
A whole heap of OzSquadders embraced the challenge for a month and I think will all agree that 5k a day is way tougher than it sounds, both physically and mentally. Sorry about that 😉
However, it has been totally awesome to see people out running like, all the time, at times of day they wouldn’t normally exercise, with people they may not routinely see mid-week. I’ve personally loved the banter, motivation and discipline of the challenge – just not so much the actual 5ks themselves!
There has been rain, hail, heatwaves, drunk runs, hungover runs, multi-tasking runs, not-much-inventiveness-in-the-route runs (Shelly beach or Fairlight path anyone?!), interstate runs, parkrun PBs galore, way more hair washing and laundry than is reasonable in four weeks and a lot of other halves who have been woken up extra early every morning because of “F@$*ing Runvember”.
11 OzSquadders have ticked off the full 30 runs, whilst another 9 have increased their running clocking up between 15 and 29 runs in the month.
Particular shout outs – Emma has gone from zero to hero having not run for months and then clocking one up every day as well as targeting 50km each week (not recommended btw!), Anna missed the first few days but got #Runvember FOMO so has ran every day since anyway, Faye fitted in a 5k after her birthday dinner, Anthoulla copied that bloody hilly ‘OzSquad’ drawing route, Simone kept up the roaming OzSquad sessions mid 5k run all the way through, Paul drew a cat , Jen and Kady looked like they breezed through it, Stacey takes the ‘best Strava run name prize’ and Simon didn’t win it!
We’ll call that an all-round challenge success. 🙂
To wrap up, here are my top 4 #Runvember take-aways, I’d love to hear yours too.
- 99% of the time, it is possible to fit in half an hour of exercise to your day. Fact.
It’s just a question of priorities. This month everyone taking part in #Runvember prioritised running and ooh look, 12 people ran every god damn day.
- Runner’s procrastination really is our worst enemy.
The discipline of the challenge was a great way to combat this common runner’s condition! The challenge removed all the questions, excuse making and internal dialogue over whether you should go for a run today. You are running today, period.
- The importance of rest
Of course we all know this, but I’ve never actually really put it to the test. It turns out rest really is important. In the normal course of life outside #Runvember (do you remember those days?), it is way more effective (and enjoyable) to do fewer good quality work-outs than lots of half-arsed ones. I did lots of half-arsed 5ks.
- Strava rocks. Fact.
I like running. I like Facebook. Strava is a nerdy running Facebook – my social media world is complete. Yes the GPS can be a bit dodge but there’s nothing like seeing 15 other people already complete their runs as motivation to get you out the front door. Kudos Runvember-ers.
Thanks #Runvember, it’s been a painful blast. Here’s to Drunk-cember and Regret-uary. 😉
