“When I push, my body responds…How we talk to ourselves, what we say to ourselves, what we’re thinking, it makes all the difference.”– Lee Thornquist

On this episode of the Edge of Comfort Podcast I reflect on running 505 miles in July 2020 to complete the Calendar Club running challenge and I answer questions from listeners regarding physicality, mentality, nutrition, and other aspects of the month.

What is the Calendar Club Challenge?

The Calendar Club challenge is where each day of the month, you run the amount of miles that correspond to that day of the month.

This means on July 1st I ran one mile. On July 2nd I ran two miles. July 3rd I ran three miles and so on until 31 miles on July 31st. Successfully completing the challenge means running 496 miles in 31 consecutive days.

Spoiler alert: on the final day I was feeling terrific and more in the zone than ever before, so I ran an extra nine miles to make it 40 miles for the day and 505 miles for the month.

Surprised by my parents, who were at the finish line of my final run on July 31st.

I originally discovered the Calendar Club challenge while following serial entrepreneur and ultramarathon runner Jesse Itzler (Website | IG) when he completed it earlier this year. The grueling physicality, mentality, and tenacity required for the challenge instantly intrigued me.

I didn’t think I would take a shot at the challenge but I just couldn’t get it out of my mind.

Two or three days before July 1st, I decided now was the perfect time for my own attempt. I was furloughed from work, didn’t have any major vacations, and had minimal social obligations due to Covid-19, so I thought, “Why not at least try?”

Why did I actually want to do the Calendar Club challenge?

My reasons for doing the Calendar Club challenge were three-fold:

> Continue challenging myself in new ways…

I wanted to do something that tested many of the running beliefs I’ve built up about what’s possible and what I can do. No rest days, minimal recovery time, continuous increase in miles, and weekly mileage that was nearly 3.5x more than any week I’ve previously done.

Before this challenge, the most miles I ran in a week was 61, with one or two rest days mixed in the week. Running 31 consecutive days seemed daunting enough, and some of the weekly mileage seemed unfathomable (like the final 7-day stretch of 205 miles).

> Fear…

This challenge honestly scared me more than any other physical challenge I’ve done and I wanted to go towards that fear instead of shying away.

While I was still in good running and endurance shape from my 50-miler in late February, I had no idea if my body would hold up.

I definitely had doubts if I could finish the month but I figured even if I didn’t reach my final goal I would become better through the effort and process of trying, which would be worth it.

> To raise money and awareness for Ahmaud Arbery and his family…

On February 23, 2020 around 1:15pm, 25 year-old Ahmaud Arbery was running near his home in Georgia when he was pursued and shot down by Travis McMichael and his f...