The Gaborone Striders Runners Club 10×10 Challenge is back and promises to be bigger and better than ever. The Challenge itself is straight-forward, if a little daunting at first: RUN 10KM EVERY DAY FOR 10 CONSECUTIVE DAYS. There are some basic rules to follow: The 10 km run has to be done in one go (so you can’t split the distance), you can’t skip a day, you can’t use the treadmill, and you have to upload your run on the designated app (MapMyRun) before midnight each day. With the tagline, “Bus Life. Together We Run,” this year has a new twist – to run in buses (a group of people) to stress the importance of keeping safe as runners and to build the spirit of camaraderie and unity. Given the bus times in my 07:30 pace group (5am/6pm), I will likely not manage to run with others, but I’m looking forward to supporting my team, if only virtually.

FIVE Goals for a FUN and HAPPY 10×10 Challenge

1/ Keep Everything Charged: The obvious ones being my watch and phone as the race organisers don’t accept any excuses for non-submission of results! But this goal is really centred around keeping my body and mind charged which is something that I’m not always mindful of. So, over the next 10 days I will ensure the following:

• Good nutrition
• Keep hydrated (2L/Day)
• 8-Hours of Sleep/ Day.

These things are critical on the average day but even more so when you’re clocking 10km/day. As December is an extremely hot month, water is essential. Sleep is also something that we as runners overlook. According to The Runner’s Resource, sleep is “so important in preventing injury and building muscle. Getting at least eight hours of sleep a night is one of the first things to try when a runner experiences problems with injuries or endurance. By staying up late and not sleeping properly a runner makes it impossible for the body to adequately repair itself.”

2/ Honour Blog Readers: Every day, I will pay tribute to blog readers from the TOP 10 countries following my blog in 2022 by wearing their national or flag colours – starting with Number 10 and building up to Number 1 on the Final Day. I really appreciate all the people who read and support my blog and honouring them over the next ten days seems really fitting.

3/ Stretch and Foam Roll: I’m not a fan of stretching but over the next ten days, this will be important especially as I may have a few niggles here and there as the Challenge progresses.

4/ Keep Things Interesting: Instead of doing the same type of run every day, I’m going to alternate between Easy Runs, Speed, Hill Sessions and possibly a hike on one of the days. I’m also going to vary my routes as much as possible for a more fun experience. In previous challenges, this has really helped to break the monotony of repeated 10K runs.

5/ Enjoy Race Day: Given my fitness levels, I will likely be very tired and may feel “all runned-out” at this stage but I just want to have an enjoyable final day. I may not join the official finale as I’m keen to grab another medal before the year ends in the last of the Spar Community Challenge run (which falls on the same day). I’ll also bring the kids along for the 5km route.

Are you doing the 10×10 Challenge (or any running streak)? What are you looking forward to? What are you dreading? What advice would you give to someone wanting to try a running streak for the first time? Do you think your country will be represented in my Top 10 readers?