Winter Didn't Win!

On January 31^st,  Sparkle.Pounce. closed out our first annual Winter Won’t Win challenge. The challenge consisted of running, walking, jogging and/or crawling 50 or 100 miles in the month of January. We love challenges and we love dream chasing, so what better month than January to push re-set on our fitness routines?

For the $40 entry fee, participants had access to a closed Facebook group, a Google document to track mileage, weekly e-mails intended to motivate, and a zip-up hoodie that was designed for mileage completion dance parties.

A well deserved hoodie to celebrate reaching goals and chasing dreams.

Starting on January 1^st, I could tell that this was going to be a special month. We had about 55 participants from a multitude of states. With participants from Washington, Florida, South Dakota, Michigan, Colorado, Kansas, Indiana, and Washington DC, we were a group that was determined not to let winter win. As soon as we kicked off the challenge, the Facebook group exploded with motivational posts, pictures of recent runs or walks, and sweaty workout selfies. Here are a couple of pictures from our Facebook group that I loved: 

Snapshot from one of our Michigan Upper Peninsula participants quieted my excuses pretty quickly.

Becky logging miles at the Disney marathon!

But what I loved best about the challenge was the motivation that it gave me to put my excuses on the back burner and get moving. I had a million excuses lined up for January that were creeping around in my head. It’s freezing outside, I don’t own a treadmill, gym closes at 9pm, I’m not feeling so great, I need to do laundry, etc. Whenever I needed a motivational re-charge, I simply checked out our Facebook group and was immediately inspired by the unlimited encouragement, a bit of tough love, and the inspiration from fellow participants to get moving.

As a group, we logged about 3,300 miles for the month of January. Beyond the names of our shared Google document was a 65-year old 100 mile finisher, four sets of mother/daughter teams, pregnant runners and walkers, several new moms, and a group of friends in Washington DC. When we started Sparkle.Pounce., one of our main goals was to inspire women to chase their dreams and while this challenge gave us the opportunity to do exactly that, the inspiration to chase our own dreams was more than given to us in return.

I logged a few snowy miles with my favorite furry training buddy.

We will be hosting one challenge per season, which means that the next challenge will be in April. And for those of us that love cross training, the challenge will be based on activity hours and not mileage! In the meantime, we are working on a couple new designs and planning our next challenge to make sure that it's as awesome as possible. Keep chasing those dreams, Spring will be here before we know it!