Time for an August check-in.  This time two years ago, I didn’t even have my blog.   It was just a foggy idea in the nebulous of my mind.  The whole first year of Rabbit Food Runner’s existence was me experimenting with posts, feeling out what I wanted to share and do with the platform.  By August of 2016, I was getting into a groove, realizing that I loved writing and sharing both my running, recipes, and health journey.  At the end of 2016, I set three goals for myself and for the blog for 2017.  This August check-in is a temperature check, “How am I doing with those goals?”  Read on to find out!

My first goal was to grow my blog.  Now, to be fair, I did not quantify this like I normally would for a goal.  “Grow” is very vague.  Honestly, I was a bit nervous to put a number on it; I follow quite a few other bloggers with thousands of followers.  Could I ever reach that point?  What is a reasonable number? Considering that I’ve had my blog since August 2015 (my first post was August 30th 2015!) I really had not put in the effort to turn this into anything.  However, that changed as I realized that people actually cared and were actually trying out recipes and races that I recommended!  I realized I wanted to make Rabbit Food Runner a bigger things.  At the start of 2017, I averaged 10 page views a day and had 14 subscribers to my newsletter, three of them family members and one of them myself to make sure it was working!

Part of me still thinks, “Who wants to read about a vegan ultra runner who coaches athletes and likes sharing recipes?”  But my goal was to grow this, see where it goes, see who I can inspire along the way.  My August check-in: so far so good!  I’ve had people from Costa Rica, Japan, and South America send me messages about making and sharing my recipes, and I’ve octoupled (spelling?) my newsletter subscription base.  The blog continues to grow and reach hundreds of readers, and I could not be happier.  I cry (happy tears, don’t worry) every time someone reaches out to me and shares how they’ve learned something, tried a new recipe, empathized with a post.  The community and education aspect of this is my why for wanting to grow.

The second goal was to run an ultramarathon.  August-check-in: DONE.  Twice!   I ran Earth Day 50k as a tune-up race leading into my main goal, the Ice Age 50 mile in May.

Ultramarathon training has helped me a LOT with making recovery progress for my eating disorder because I’ve had to shift my perception of food; food is fuel that enables me to run.  Currently I am training for the North Face Endurance Challenge Wisconsin 50k that will take place September 16th.  You can read about my training so far, weeks 1-4 here and weeks 5-7 here.   If you have any desire to sign up for ANY distance, you can register here and use the code ECSAMBBM15 for 15% the distance of your choice.

My third goal for the year was to become a certified running coach.  I love running so much; it’s brought joy, self-confidence, peace of mind to my life.  Coaching enables me to help foster that in other athletes and help them achieve big dreams.  August-check-in:  DONE.  I absolutely LOVE being a coach!  I’m working with a few different athletes training for various fall marathons and it’s going well.  Coaching is an eye-opening experience that has taught me more about running and human potential than just running on its own.  I’m glad I made this leap into the coaching realm (if interested, visit my coaching page for more info).  Again, that feeling of community and education, mixed with my passion for the sport is my why.  However, I am a little nervous about what will happen post-marathon.  Will I still have people to coach?  Will the winter be a lull?  These are questions that are starting to arise as the year progresses.

So what’s next for the rest of 2017?

I like having goals.  On one hand, I am excited to have accomplished the 3 things I set out to do this year but on the other hand, I need new goals to keep my focused.  So for the rest of 2017, I have three new goals:

1. Get at least 50 new subscribers to the blog by the end of the year
   • If interested, subscribe here!  I am going to try to accomplish this by doing number two below.
2. Post 2 articles a week – one running or food related and one more personal
   • For the month of August, I will be doing an “Ask Me Anything” post each week.  Do you want to know more about running?  About being vegan?  About training? What my favorite hobby BESIDES running is?  Submit your question in this Google Form and stay tuned for an answer in a later post.
3. PR the North Face Endurance Challenge 50k
   • I’m working hard on the climbing and speed work.  I would love to get a PR (Currently 5:26) and would LOVE to qualify for the elite 50 mile field at ECS California for next year.  I’ll continue keeping you up to date with the training and progress.

What are your goals for the rest of the year?  I encourage you to do an August check-in with yourself and make a plan for what you want to accomplish for the rest of the year.  Comment below and we can hold each other accountable. 

Happy running,

Becca