2021 is over....kinda

I am through with 2021!   Done!  No more!

What in the world am I talking about?  I am talking about the 2021 challenge that I embarked upon this year!   Yes, at the beginning of the year I decided that I would be trying to tackle the task of completing 2021 miles in 2021!  Any type of miles counted.  Swimming....hiking...walking...running...biking!  The challenge amounted to 5.5 miles per day!  I was stoked and ready to rumble with my miles!

It didn't take long for me to hit that wall!  I hit the wall of impossibility within 2 weeks!  I was feeling completed daunted by the miles.  Seriously, I was feeling like I was going to fail by the thirteenth of January!  My gut instinct at that time was telling me to quit.  I was literally thinking "MaryFran, you are going to fail so you may as well stop now and not waste your time even trying."    But something clicked within me.  Something made me sit back and say.  "NO....keep going and do NOT look at the full mileage you need.  Instead focus on the 5.5 miles you need EACH DAY!"   Only focus on one day at a time.  5.5 miles is doable....easily doable on that exercise bike!

So that is what I did. Each day I focused on only what I needed to achieve that day!  5.5 miles, 5.5 miles, 5.5 miles.  Wash, rinse and repeat!  I missed very few weekdays but weekends were a bit sporadic, so I started to up my mileage on the week days to account for any miles that I may miss due to life or sickness.  I started to work up a bank of overage miles.  But I didn't let up.   After a month or two I began to focus on getting 7 miles a day...then 8 miles a day. ....then 10 miles a day.  I was racking up the miles and my end goal of 2021 miles was spinning toward me on that exercise bike! 

I am so very proud to announce that this past week I reached the 2021 mile mark!  I have propelled myself 2021 miles this year!  I did it in less than 9 months!  I totally rocked out this goal!

That means that I have FINALLY earned the right to wear the tee shirt that I got when I signed up for the challenge!  

So what is in the future?  I am concerned about the fact that without the 2021 challenge that I will just fade back into an existence of no exercise.  I don't want that.  I can tell how much the biking has helped me along.  Hiking is no longer painful and has actually turned fun! 

So I am announcing the desire to actually make it to 2500 miles in the year 2021!  (but I'm wearing my shirt now because I earned that puppy!)