
I would have to average 3.57 miles every day in order to get to 100 miles by February 28th. I reached that goal on February 27th! Take that!! There were days that I didn't want to go out for the miles, and there were days that it was very difficult because I was sick. At the end of the first week I started to have a cough that reminded me of the coughs I would get as kid. In the back of my mind I could hear my mom saying, "Go to the doctor because it's probably bronchitis." Sure enough it was. I missed one day of walking and then got back to my miles. It ended up being extra challenging because of the 100 miles, less than 10 were running because I was not able to get my lungs feeling right.
As I was eating lunch one day, it hit me: the only animal products I had consumed in the prior weeks was pizza and feta cheese. This new energy and overall happiness with life stems from what I am eating. I have been vegetarian for three years and that alone changed my attitude as well as decreased the amount of rest time I needed after workouts and endurance races. My goal for the last year or so was to eliminate dairy from my diet, with the intentions of being 99% vegan (I cut myself a break because I'm still learning some of the tricky names that dairy hides behind on nutrition labels) Also, I don't see myself giving up pizza until companies can create a cheese-like product that tastes more like cheese.
Food Shopping
Besides that, I keep soy or almond milk on hand, as well as Lidl brand KIND bars. My coffee creamer is Very Vanilla Cashew Milk Icecream that I pick up at the Walmart Neighborhood Market. Flour tortillas, Gardin's "Beefless Ground", salad mix, cilantro, and salsa are all I need to make delicious soft wrap tacos. Breakfast is usually soy milk with frozen mixed berries and a generic KIND bar. I love Mediterranean food, so I will often make bean salads with assorted olives, peppers, onion, and grape tomatoes. Somehow, I am able to buy all my groceries on about $30 a week. So anyone who says it's expensive to eat healthy isn't trying very hard! Discount grocery stores like Lidl and Aldi are great places to shop and have high quality produce. I have drastically reduced the amount of processed food I eat, which I also credit for the way I feel. My focus is on whole foods instead of convenience foods. It takes a little more time to prepare food that fuels your body, but this month has been proof to myself that it's worth the time I put into it. Most people eat the same 4 or 5 meals, so once you perfect your recipes, it's really not that hard to create it again and again.
Moving Every Day

The thing I learned the most was the importance of setting a goal and staying committed to it. Consistency is my overall goal this year. The 100 mile challenge proved that staying committed to something would have benefits that I never would have expected.
Now that it is mid March, I am likely not going to reach the 100 miles this month (I hadn't even set that as a goal) But I am seeing that maybe the 100 mile goal needs to be every month, because now that I am not working towards that, my body feels like something is missing.
Time for more goal crushing!!!