30 in 30 walk/run challenge (recap)

For the month of June, the Grad Girl Wellness community put their tennis shoes on and hit the pavement. Grad Girls were challenged with walking and/or running 30 miles in 30 days. We used the Nike Run Club app to track our miles as a collective, and I must say that I am blown away with how well thing went! I received a lot of great feedback about how helpful it was and how people got in the habit of rooting for strangers each time that they increased their mile count. I love it!

This is actually the second time that GGW has hosted a fitness challenge. We did a “back to school” themed challenge in 2020, but this time around was really indicative of how much GGW has grown in the last year. Here’s a quick comparison:

2020

-5 people signed up, and I was the only person to finish

-No prizes

2021

-30 people signed up, and 10 people finished

-International participants

-3 Prizes: Donated Manifesto Water Bottles from the amazing Black woman owned athletic leisure wear brand Roam Loud and stickers from the Grad Girl Wellness stickers

I think you should do it more, even without an award. It’s a great strategy to make us move and relax from our PhDs.”

S.B.C.

The growth is amazing! I was so grateful to have so many people hold me accountable throughout the month of July. Admittedly, I started off really strong and then kind of tapered off towards the end and had to be intentional about ensuring that I finished in time. One person finished in 8 days (!) whereas others of us spread things out over the course of the month. It was great to see everyone’s progress, and I only wish that the Nike App gave you the ability to communicate more directly with people. Maybe they’ll have that update by the time we do this next year (wishful thinking).

This was a fun and motivating challenge.”

K.L.

As the GGW community continues to grow, I look forward to doing more challenges like this and also providing ways for folks to be involved even if they aren’t a fan of cardio. Maybe something related to a different dimension of wellness would be useful.

What type of future challenges would you like to see from Grad Girl Wellness?

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