60 in 6, a summer of miles.... July-Aug 2018

A well known runner in Calgary "Ed Bickley" who was turning 60 on July 3rd 2018 decided to set up a challenge to motivate people to stay active and at the same time do something different for his summer runs... The challenge was to run for 60 consecutive days at least 1 mile in under 6 minutes... Well, not everyone can run a mile in under 6 minutes (this would be a 3:43 min pace per km for those that are more familiar with the metric system). Anyway, as a supporter of many sporting activities I decided to join the challenge and hammer some fast miles along with Ed and few other friends, in a competitive and some times not so competitive atmosphere, but surrounded with camaraderie and enthusiasm.

The challenge officially started July 3rd 2018 (Ed's birthday), I started on July 1st since I thought it will be easier to keep track on the days... I was on a camping trip in USA for 10 days that week and managed to log some sub-six min miles in three different States (Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota). Before that, an din preparation for the challenge I ran some in Montana, Utah and Nevada as well...
Then, while camping again in the USA I ran 6 of the miles in Idaho with coach Ryan Twa !!

I didn't quite do all the 60 days in a row due to lower back issue.... so ended up running only 48 sub 6 min miles in total with probably around 6 or 8 before the challenge started. Ed on the other hand, managed to complete a total of 120 consecutive days !! finishing up in one of the most famous mile races in the States "The 5th Avenue Mile Race" with a clock time of 5:32, very impressive !

I did some of these miles at the track with Ed and sometimes with few other runners, I think my fastest on the track was 5:31, and my fastest on a downhill course was around 5:20 (although many will argued downhill miles shouldn't count......

I had a lot of fun doing them this summer, my take away was that it doesn't get any easier, neither I got any faster.. what it taught me was to stay committed for many days... I ran miles before my tempo runs, I ran miles after my tempo runs, I ran miles with friends, I ran miles with my kids, I ran miles with my wife and I ran a LOT of these miles on my own (even against my own will ::--)). My hottest mile was in Wyoming at 38c in a school track and I almost die!