Well, almost.

I am at the end of week seven, and I’ve only begun to turn up the heat. If you’re new to this journey of mine and how I got sucked into running a marathon over a video game publisher, you can check out Weeks 1 & 2, and Weeks 3 & 4.

Hitting New Strides

For the first month and a half, my schedule has been running five days a week with one full rest day and the other rest day mixed with cross-training. One of the five runs is the dreaded long-run, while the others were three to five miles. These three to five miles are to simply get my body used to running, putting in miles in the bank so to speak. Week seven is when I had to ramp those runs to five to six miles each.

I felt nervous at first. I spent so long in the comfort zone of three to four miles with the occasional fiver but now…six? That’s essentially a 10k (again, almost). Shockingly, I hit my first six mile run of the week with minimal set back. In fact, I ended up completing two six-mile runs and two five-mile runs. Of course, I’m flat out exhausted now, and tomorrow is my dreaded long run, which will be 11 miles. ELEVEN.

My last two long runs had been ten miles each. I had kept at ten because of strep throat setting me back as well as how badly my body reacted the first time I’d run 10 miles. Thankfully, my son’s karate instructor learned what I was training for…and he told me he ran five marathons already! With that, he enthusiastically asked questions, gave great advice, and offered to help any time I needed any. I tried some of his tactics the second time I attempted 10 miles, and I had a much better time with it. Regardless, ten miles is still ten miles, and it still posed a significant challenge, but now, I will try and push even further.

As I prepare for my third month of training, I looked back on what I’ve accomplished so far, and I recommend doing this for any goal you are setting, whether it is fitness related or gaming related!

• September: 54.5 miles ran with 11’06” average pace.
• October: 106.7 miles ran with 10’34” average pace.
• Total miles run so far: 161.2 miles

Hitting New Strides…in Gaming

Although I don’t have nearly as much time to game as I’d like, I’ve certainly made strides as a gamer. I started off late and with minimal exposure to consoles and the industry at large. I only had experiences with the Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, PlayStation 2, and Wii (and only a couple games each) before I truly went all in and broadened my horizons.

Once I graduated college and stabilized my finances (to the best of my ability for a someone in debt), I picked up a used PlayStation 4 Pro late in the cycle to play DVDs. However, tt took The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to truly grab my attention in 2017. So, I snagged a Nintendo Switch on day one, and I never looked back.

From there, my tastes evolved. While I loved Zelda and was primarily exposed to Nintendo IP, I soon received recommendations from friends to try other genres. I picked up Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Last of Us and discovered how amazing graphics and storytelling can be. When I joined gaming communities such as Boss Rush Network, I was further introduced into indie games and the horror genre.

Now, I consider myself a “diverse” gamer, so to speak. I got over my fears of the horror genre, and now it’s one of my favorites: Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 4, SOMA, The Medium, Alan Wake II, Silent Hill 2, Whisper Mountain Outbreak, Silent Hill f, and Chronos: The New Dawn. Indie games are also a top priority, and I tend to give them just as much love as AAA titles. I’m more willing to try genres I used to find challenging or simply not fun for me such as deck-building rogue-lites, and guess, what? There are some titles I fell in love with like Slay the Spire and Inscyption.

While I haven’t made a very organized list, but I’m slowly documenting all the games I’ve played over the years, and it’s outstanding to see how I’ve grown as a player. My tastes have changed, and I’ve grown to appreciate it as a form of art. Much like with my running, I am proud of what I’ve accomplished so far, and I look forward to my ongoing journey.

Like with video games, I approach the coming Fall and Winter months with both excitement and pause. I will take all the time I need to achieve my goals and not let the daunting task of running 26.2 miles (or tackling a backlog as long as a CVS receipt) invalidate the overall experience.

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Featured Image Source: Nintendo