Hi All,

It seems my occasional posts about our "streak" draw equal numbers of positive and negative comments, and that's fine. I do understand that my attempt to establish a daily running streak with my now 9-year-old does not seem like wise parenting to some people.

But anyway, today is our 2-month streak anniversary -- we're at 62 days. We still typically do 1.2-1.8 miles on weekdays, but have been building up a little on the weekends with some 2+ milers and even a 3-miler last Saturday. (I know, it's funny to be talking about such short distances...) My son observed yesterday that ever since he started running distances of more than 2 miles, he never opts for the really really short runs anymore (those barely over a mile).

I reminded myself today that my original goal in setting off on this challenge with him was 1) to get him to spend less time playing video games; 2) to get him to have a slightly less grumpy disposition; 3) to introduce him to the bliss of running and all the terrific benefits that go along with it. And I'd have to say that so far I've made no progress whatsoever with goal #1 and not all that much with goal #2, but goal #3 is definitely starting to take hold.

We also made contact via email with another streak runner who started at about age 9 and has now been going for about 14 years, and are looking forward to hearing more about his story. (He's the same person that another poster referred to when I first mentioned our streak.) We'll see if we can carry through another month!

Many thanks to everyone who has had kind words for us since I last posted. Although I completely understand the justification for the critical comments I've attracted in the past (given that I fully admit this is a controversial plan, and of course it was my choice to discuss it in a public forum anyway), it's just nice to read some positive responses as well. My son wrote about our running in his school journal this week and showed me the entry. He wrote, "My mom and I are going to see how many days in a row we can run." Since I couldn't exactly remember the wording with which I first proposed this idea to him, I found that very reassuring...he didn't say "My mom and I are going to run every day for a year" (or "My mom says we HAVE to"!) or anything suggesting we'd set impossibly high standards...just that it's a friendly competition to see how many days we can log, with the understanding that eventually we'll come to the end of our streak. Of course, he tells people his goal is 70 years, but his journal entry reassured me that his outlook is a little more realistic than that. We did a really nice 3.2 mile run last weekend...in fact, it was the same loop I used to do often on weekends when I ran alone. It's just been so much fun so far and such a good way for us to connect, given that there are so many interests we DON'T share (I try, but I just really don't care about video games, Lord of the Rings or MLB). IF we don't break our streak, we'll hit 100 days just before Thanksgiving!