The Run Streak

It's June 2012 and the streak continues. Today is Day 539.
Why do I run and why streaking? Is it good for your body to not have any rest days?
This running streak thing just started on December 11, 2010 at West Stride Running store in West Buckhead. I really didn't plan it.  Back then I've been running for only about 18 months, two to four times a week. For about 10 years before that, sporadically I used to go to the gym, mostly on the weekends. I was basically a "weekend warrior", unfocused, unmotivated and lazy.  Running was just an afterthought for me at the time even though I played soccer, basketball, and inline skate during Skate Nights. I ate a lot of junk food and got to almost 160 pounds which was the heaviest that I ever weighted.
In the summer of 2009, after turning 44, I joined the Atlanta Track Club to train for this Peachtree Road Race-the world's largest 10K race with 60,000 participants. The in-training group forced me to run every Saturday morning for 11 weeks before the race itself.  We would have a training plan and supposed to run during the week too. I ran in some of the 5K Grand Prix races. I think I caught the "running bug" that fateful July three years ago. This year's race will be my 5th PRR overall and 4th in a row.  I'm looking forward to running it with my wife who will be joining me for the first time ever. We've been together for almost 20 years (man, how time flies!!!) and I finally got her to go run it with me this year.  The reason why she has never done it before, in her words: "I'm not a runner, running hurts my knees." She joined the Atlanta Track Club and has done 7 races so far this year. Hey, if we're addicted to anything, running is not that bad of a vice.
These days running just become automatic for me. I chose to run because I like it. I like how it makes me feel afterwards, that endorphin euphoria runner's high. I like the dedication it takes, I like the satisfaction and freedom it gives me. Yeah, it's that good 'ol American freedom-I do whatever whenever however I want. I run because it's my meditation, my zen time. I wake up every day thinking about my next run. I got a Garmin GPS watch and synced it with DailyMile, an online website to keep me accountable. I don't get overly obsessive about pace or distance or training plan any more. I try not to run in the same place two consecutive days. Really the trick to it all is knowing when to slow down and when to stop. Most of my runs are around 3,4 miles long. Some days if I feel like it I would run for an hour or 6 to 7 miles. My longest run ever was 10 miles a few months back.  I have no desire to do a Marathon or even half of one. I love running but long-distance self-torture just ain't my thing. I don't think I'm one of those people who love to brag about how far, how long or how fast they can run.
My favorites running routes are the Silver Comet trail, the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Tolleson Park, Atlanta Road, Alpharetta Greenway, Heritage Park, Oakdale Park, Piedmont Park and Swift-Cantrell Park in Kennesaw. Most days I don't even know where I'll be running. But you can bet that I will go out for that minimum 1 mile/10-minute pace, anything after that is just the icing on the cake.