Blog and challanges summary

I started this blog to write about things that interests me. At the beginning it was a little bit about motivation and running [here]. I set some goals for myself to achieve [here] and event create a page that stores all my successes and failures [here].

Today I would like to end this part of my webpage so I will do a quick summary of how I failed hard and succeed in some of the challenges.

Challenges summary - failure part

Lets start with the bad news - in both of the running challenges, namely:

• run half marathon in 2015
• run marathon in 2015

I failed. Last time, that I wrote about running [here] I mentioned that I got injured. Unfortunately the recovery period was long (I tried running after 2/3/4/5 weeks and my knee was still hurting). I took some pills but it did not help. I did some exercises instead - ride a bicycle, did over 100 km while cross country skiing. The break from running made it impossible to take part in half marathon in Poznan in April. I started running in April and gradually increased the intensity (I read a book about running during while being injured). Unfortunately in July my knee started hurting again and I had to pause running again. This shattered the dreams of marathon for me.

On the bright side of things - I bought a bike and I enjoyed riding it. I did almost 1500 kms last year, while in previous years I did not ride at all. I was even able to ride over 100 km in one day which I am proud of :) All in all despite not fulfilling my plans I enjoyed the year trying different sports.

Additional note for other people that are starting running or are planning to - do not force yourself to much. I know it is nice to exhaust yourself after a long day in front of the computer but for the sake of your health run slowly. Really. Or read a book or run with somebody at pace that you can talk comfortably.

Challenges summary - I don't know what it is part

I started the blog to express myself to the world. To hone my writing skills. To share my ideas. I challenged myself to keep the blog up with regular updates. It is still alive. Maybe not exactly alive and kicking but also not on the verge of death I guess. What do you think my dear reader? Was this challenge a success or was it a failure?

Challenges summary - I did something right part

At the beginning of the year somebody showed me a program for a mobile phone that allows learning the foreign languages. I am talking about Duolingo. It is really well executed application and what is most important it is free (and can be used on both mobile phone and the PC thanks to being a webpage). I started doing the exercises and today I achieved 100 days streak (which was my goal). That means I did the necessary exercises each and every day starting from 4th of January. I finished all the lessons a while ago and now I only did repetitions and it is less interesting that new lessons.
I would like to encourage everybody to try the Duoliong and the method of learning by small but frequent exercises. On the downside there is only one level of Polish-English course and is rather simple.

TL; DR

When I started this blog I set myself a few goals (challenges). Today I revised how I fare - I described my failures and successes. Now I retire this part of the webpage - no more challenges for me (at least for now). The archived ones can be found here.

Failure is Part of the Success Equation

It's final time to come clean...

As you remember I was really pumped out when I finished my first challenge two weeks before the planned end. On December the 15th I challenged myself to get new record in number of kilometres per month with 150 km. I was progressing very well towards it...

I tried...

and FAILED. Yep you heard it right. I did not succeed. I've achieved highest number of kilometres per month (135; 1 more then previous record) but didn't run 150.

I was on the right track, I worked hard - I run before the Christmas Eve (23) and each day after (25, 26). Unfortunately on 25th my right knee started to hurt a little bit. I shrug it off as knees hurted me in the past and it was nothing serious. Next day when I run it was my most difficult run ever. My legs were super heavy and the knee was trying to explode. I bited the bullet and continued. The end result was rather good (approx. 4:35 min/km) but I was unable to move normally next day. The knee gone from light pain into strong one. That's why I had to abandon current challenge. I can't risk more serious problems. Winning the battle and losing the war is not an option for me!

Failure

There is one more important thing - failure is part of the game and it's the part that makes everything interesting. If there is no risk of failing what kind of challenge that is? Win-lose is a neccessity to makes things worth trying. This is what motivates - the risk of losing. Wise man thinks similar:

And now for something completely different

Blog gets new page - Challenge list where both finished and in progress challenges are described with starting date, end date, the result and all other important details. Go check it out! Now. And add to your bookmarks ;) Ohh and check this - so crazy epic!

TL;DR

I failed with my second challenge (if you care about excuses read the whole thing:) . Sometimes that's what happen despite trying hard. I'm not giving up, next time I will succeed!

Also new page on the blog - list of challenges.

Ka-Pow*! First challenge shattered into pieces!

* for the felons not familiar with internet gibberish - kapow in urban dictionary :)

BAM! The countdown has finished! I made it, the first challenge has been beaten to the ground! 500km before the new year is achieved today, the 15th of December! It was publicly announced (on the blog) on the 1st of December (I came with that idea a week or so ealier). I worked hard, run highest number of kilometres per week (8-14.12: 44.42km) and finished well before the New Year's Eve. Nothing more to say than easy peasy lemon squeezy:

Now to the point - challenge yourself, find WHAT you want to achieve, plan HOW you will do it, and then stick strictly to the plan and just DO IT. There is one important requirement - LIKE doing the thing (you have chosen to do).

As for myself I'm in a need for new short-term challenge so here you go:
Run more kilometres than ever in one month (current record: 134km in October).

One more thing to note - to celebrate my small success I tried to break the 5km record but failed by 4 seconds cause I forgot what it was during the run. It reminded me about one thing - do not be afraid of failures. Failure is part of the game, you have to accept it. I know that next time I will beat the crap out of this record. It's just a matter of time. Also... I broke 3miles and 3km record :)

Time to finish this with some motivational sentence for future:

Next challenge (half marathon) better watch out, cause I'm coming for Ya! And when it happens... BAM! In a blink of an eye... You dead.

TL;DR

I've finished first of running challenges - run at least 500km before the end of the year. As there is a lot of time to go I decided to try to break my record of number of kilometres run in one month (134km).

I've got a confession to make...

I hide it... I truly conceal it... This whole idea of blogging was somewhere in my mind. But the thing that motivated me to start it, to do it came from running.

Running is simple, it's just you against yourself, your weakness. Everything depends on you, each run is a challenge, which you can overcome. When I am running with my favourite music I feel I can do whatever I want, it just a matter of going all-out. It's not easy, it takes time, but if you're persistent and strongly believe that you could succeed you will.

Each and every day you can sit on your ass and watch some funny tv shows or youtube movies, play games or just waste your time. But the same time can be used for something else, juts decide what you really want and do it! Or start with believing that you can do it and it will happen sooner or later!

This is the origin of the blog name. Running makes me believe, that if you want you can. Just do it, don't stop, don't complain, it will take time and sweat but everything is possible if you want. Sound crazy and pathetic but who cares.

I returned to running last year after a break of high school, whole studies and two more additional years. At first I run with my wife in some really old shoes, it was just casual jogging but after few tries I realized that I like it. I bought professional shoes to keep my knees in good shape for later parts of my life :) I finished the year with something like 20, maybe 25 runs. The winter and spring was a long break, but I came back with full power. I don't remember when exactly I run first, but I starter recording my activities on 25.07.2014 with Endomondo app.

You can find info about my progress here (I'm putting some description for each run):
https://www.endomondo.com/profile/17457362

All this running is done, cause some time ago I decided I need a long term goal to test if I'm able to fulfil it. Unfortunately I'm more of a "flash in the pan" type of guy - start with a lot of energy and motivation, that runs out quickly. So I challenged myself - next year (2015) - half marathon and then full marathon. That's the first and most important of my challenges.

A week ago I was analysing my progress thus far and find out that I've run almost 400 km this year (only recorded ones count) so I decided to break 500 km mark this year!

TL; DR

Plan something, challenge yourself, believe that you can do it and it will happen!

My running challenges:
- run in half-marathon in first half of the 2015,
- run in full marathon in second half of 2015,
- finish 2014 with 500km under the belt (check my Endomondo profile to see how I'm doing).