The long, long month of January is in the books, and so far I’m not only keeping up with my running quilt, it’s still motivating me to get out there logging miles on days when otherwise I’d probably skip it. Here’s my progress so far, all sewn together and ready for February.

I kicked off the year with a 5K race and a personal record (PR) of 26:28.9 (woohoo!), snuck a hike in there in the middle, managed one back-to-back run duo, and finally started adding some longer runs with a 6 miler and 5 miler toward the end there. To read more details on how I plan to make this quilt, what each strip and color represent, and why some strips are skinnier than others, check out my first post My 2020 Miles Quilt here.

I love the way the tree looks in there to represent our 2 mile snowy hike, and can’t wait until summer when hikes are much more frequently scattered throughout this quilt!

I’ve been tracking my miles on a Project Planner page in my Quilter’s Planner, which helps my peace of mind that I’ll remember what activity I did each day, and also will help me know without uncertainty how long each row is. Since I ran so frequently in January (12 times), I’ve decided to extend my rows to 70″ instead of 60″, since if I continue at this rate, I would end up with a quilt that would be about 60″ x 102″!  Tracking my progress on graph paper will help me know exactly when to end one row and begin the next.

Here’s a peek at the tracking from earlier in the month, before I changed my width to 70″. I’m getting close to the end of the first row at this point, as well as close to 50 miles, when I’ll stitch a little 3″ runner from my Run Run Run pattern into the strip to designate the completion of 50 miles. I’m actually only 7 miles away from 50 miles as of this morning, so I’m plotting out a 7 mile long run for tomorrow so that my little runner will be in a purple color, too! We’ll see if I can motivate myself to get out in the 27 degree forecasted cold for a long run, or whether I split it up over tomorrow and Friday and accept a teal runner marker.

This quilt has definitely motivated me to get out there and run on even the coldest days, with most of the runs logged here in Maine, where I crunch along on frozen ground, sometimes snow and ice, and always with lots of layers.

It’s pretty even if it’s frigid.

It also motivated me to get a run in while I was traveling to teach at the Houston Modern Quilt Guild, which was a very different experience with 74 degrees and 100% humidity. I certainly enjoyed the big trees and ample green during that run! Without the promise of earning a run strip for my quilt, I doubt I would have woken up early to fit a run in before a long day of lecturing and teaching, so this quilt is certainly doing what I hoped it would–help keep me on the positive feedback loop of running regularly and inspiring me to sew more. Win, win, win, ad infinitum!

Yesterday I took a bit of time to cut strips for miles 2 through 9, as well as a bunch of cross training and rest day strips. Now I’m ready to go, set up for success for February, since all I’ll need to do is get out there and run, then grab the coinciding strip to add to my design wall. Here’s to a fit and fabulous (and maybe a bit brighter) February!

Speaking of pink, I’m having my annual Spread the Love Pattern sale now through February 14th, so be sure to use code LOVE2020 at my Payhip shop for 20% off! Stock up on Night Quilter patterns now, and spread the love!