I don’t know about you all, but I know what I’m doing tomorrow.

Resting.

Yesterday I successfully completed the “Head Goat 50K” challenge set by the imaginative folks at RF Events. All one had to do was run at least one mile each of the 31 days in May, and thus accumulate 31 miles, which as every fanatical trail runner knows is a 50K.

There were just two problems with meeting this seemingly trivial (for me) challenge: a) I’d never run 31 days in a row, and b) miles are like potato chips. It’s just not possible for me to stop at one. And so I set my own goal to average not one mile per day, but five, or 165 total miles for the month.

And, somehow, I pulled it off. After one mile yesterday, May 31, I officially met the challenge. So I ran 13 more as a cooldown / victory lap.

Total for May: 179.1 miles. Shortest run: 2 miles. Longest: 14. And since I actually began my run streak on April 30, I also ran today (June 1) to cap things off, for a grand total of 33 consecutive run days, and 190.3 miles total.

So what did I experience and learn?

Physically, most of me feels fine. About halfway through I began to experience a general fatigue. Running slowly was no problem, but my sprints and other speedwork definitely suffered. My knees also began to get sore. I’m not sure why. I’m sure it’s in part to running every day, but I also suspect it’s because I’m not stretching enough after a run. I’ve heard that knee pain doesn’t always originate in the knees. Something else out of balance stresses the ligaments. So I’ve promised myself to get better at that.

And now the streak will end, because although I could continue it, I will not do so.

Why is that, I hear you asking. Aren’t you a crazy ultrarunner? What’s a few miles a day?

Okay, guilty as charged. Running fifty miles or more at a time is something I find oddly fun – every now and then. Doing that every couple of weeks (don’t laugh, some do) would quickly stop being fun. As does running more than a few days per week. Plus I’d like to get back to more formal training for (hopefully) more races ahead.

Not that I’m going to stop moving, of course. My wife and I have already signed up for the RF Events June challenge: “being on the move” for around 1,200 minutes this month. I’m looking forward to some nice long walks and bike rides to help meet that one. With plenty of well-earned rest in there.