One year ago, I decided that I was going to run every single day in 2025. Today, that goal was accomplished. Along the way, I learned a lot about myself and the power of consistency. I learned about life. I learned about how working towards big goals can often feel monotonous, small, and boring in the moment. I learned about running. I learned about how to get out of my own way.
I still have a lot more to learn, and am sharing this from the perspective of someone that never wants to stop growing and becoming. But today, I’m sharing everything I learned while working towards this goal, with the hope that it gives you some fuel and fodder to go after whatever you’re working towards in 2026.
Change your mindset around movement, it’s something you get to do, not that you have to do. Reframe it as something that brings community, joy and fulfillment instead of it being an annoying thing to check off on your to-do list every day. It gives you your power back.
The impact of consistency is everything. When you consistently pour into yourself, it will inevitably bleed into unexpected areas of your life.
No matter how long you run, it’s always going to be a hard. Running is hard for everyone and that’s what’s beautiful about it. The hardness is something to embrace and be curious about.
Celebrating your small wins will make big goals easier to accomplish. Learning to celebrate micro successes along the way can help keep you going.
You don’t have to run “a lot” to get the benefits of it - the consistency of just one single mile goes way farther than you might think.
Building community and running with other people makes the miles fly by. Find a friend, start or join a run club, talk to a stranger! When you run with other people, the burden of the mileage is shared, instead of it being on your heart and mind alone.
The hardest part of going for a run will always be just lacing up your sneakers. Never forget that you can do anything for 10 minutes.
There’s magic in mundanity and making progress towards a big goal is rarely loud. Looking back on all of the runs I did, very few of them felt particularly special. I think when we’re working towards a big goal, we think it’s going to look and feel sexier than it actually is… but in reality, the mundanity of simply showing up every day is where the magic is.
It is possible to do hard things gently. With consistency and mindset shifts, it’s possible to find a new equilibrium that can allow you to go easy on yourself while still holding yourself accountable to reaching your goals.
Done is better than perfect. Let go of how it looks and focus on just doing it.
You’ll never regret going for a run.
Genuinely understanding delayed gratification is priceless. Once you understand the real value of putting in the work now for the benefit of your future self, you’ll never go back.
Reframe exercise as a critical part of your well-being instead of a “nice to have”! Think of it as important as brushing your teeth every day, and your mental health, your self-confidence, and your aspirations will all be better because of it.
Repetition will inevitably give you a bias for action. Somewhere along the way you’ll start ripping the band aid off on the things you need to get done instead of procrastinating them.
You don’t have to be good at running to get the benefits of it. There’s no right or wrong way to be a runner, and you can choose to focus on all of the benefits it brings you (improved mental health, self-confidence, resilience in life overall) instead of the physical aspects of it (how fast you are, how far you can run etc).
Running is an act of overcoming yourself. Every single time you choose to show up, your own doubts, fears, insecurities and limitations have less power.
You can take your goals seriously, but not yourself seriously.
The time will pass you by whether you’re working towards what you really want or not.
Running is a tool for self-improvement. Think of it as a shovel, clearing away the dirt, the stuff that gets in the way of who you really want to be.
Doing something (even if it’s small) will always be better than nothing.
Get a little “unrealistic” about what you can accomplish. When you set realistic goals, you get a realistic outcome. When you set slightly unrealistic goals… you get an unrealistic outcome.
It’s easy to show up when conditions are perfect, but what you do when the conditions are not perfect matters even more. Meet hard things with acceptance instead of resistance.
Running is all about dualities. Like feeling the best you’ve ever felt one day, and the worst you’ve ever felt the next day. Move forward with the tension and resistance instead of against it.
Running should be FUN. Being unserious takes the pressure off, channel your inner little kid when you need to take the edge off.
Running outside consistently allows you to notice and marvel at seasonal changes in your environment. It gives you another way to stay grounded in the present and connect with nature.
Learn to create self-trust over forcing discipline.
Believe that you can and you will. Show up with the intention that you’re taking what’s already yours instead of working towards what isn’t.
Learn to be in competition with yourself and no one else. Put the blinders up on what everyone else is doing and recognize that this is your journey, and no one else’s.
Stop relying on motivation to achieve your goals and start building on solid ground. It starts with simply keeping the promises you make to yourself.
You don’t need a rebrand or to become someone new in 2026 to achieve your dreams. You need to commit to doing the small things consistently, because that’s where real transformation happens.
Running is a bridge. It connects you from who you are now to who you want to be. The consistency, the repetition, the dedication to something beyond yourself, it all works to peel back the layers to reveal the you that you’ve wanted to be all along. You’re already that person, you just need to use the bridge.
Thanks so much for following along. I started running 8 years ago with no athletic background, a mountain of limiting beliefs, and the simple hope of improving the anxiety and depression that plagued my life. My only goal in creating this content (and all of my content) is to inspire one single person to believe that they can do it too.
I’m not special, or a good runner by any means. I just decided to try and to not give up on myself and anyone can do that. The only question left is, why not you?
As always, thank you so much for reading and I’m so grateful you’re here. If you enjoyed this post, send to a friend! New letters every Wednesday.
Until then, you can find me on Strava, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Join my Hudson Valley RUN CLUB! Shop my favorites here and here. For collaborations, partnerships or to work together, send me a note at kristinearocho@gmail.com.
And since you made it this far, enjoy a recent Otis photo below. See you next week!
Enjoyed this! Running/writing are two of the most special things in life
I love that these learnings can be applied to so many areas of life. Congrats in completing this mega challenge! 💛