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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Earlier this week, we talked about streaks and the idea

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Speaker 1: of doing something every single day. Of course, nothing lasts forever,

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Speaker 1: and all habits or human endeavors end at some point.

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Speaker 1: The question is how you end things, and today's tip

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Speaker 1: is about how to end things. Well, I'm currently somewhere

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Speaker 1: over nine days into an everyday running streak. I've run

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Speaker 1: at least a mile a day every day since December.

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Speaker 1: I'll knock on wood here and say that I've been

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Speaker 1: lucky to have no serious injuries, though I definitely practice

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Speaker 1: some injury prevention strategies to ward those off. But it's

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Speaker 1: easy to imagine that a running streak could end because

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Speaker 1: of illness or injury, or some external force like that.

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Speaker 1: I'd like to think I make my peace with the idea,

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Speaker 1: but it's hard to know. So I was interested to

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Speaker 1: read in a recent issue of Runners World about a

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Speaker 1: young man who made a conscious decision to end his

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Speaker 1: running streak for his wedding day. He made it into

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Speaker 1: a big celebration. He and his guests all ran an

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Speaker 1: informal five k together. Then he got married and the

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Speaker 1: next day he did not run. He wanted to release

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Speaker 1: himself from any potential stress of needing to run every

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Speaker 1: day on his honeymoon while they were traveling well, his

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Speaker 1: new wife was perfectly happy with his running. It also

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Speaker 1: made sense to take a big life change and use

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Speaker 1: it to consciously reevaluate his schedule. I really like this

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Speaker 1: idea of a conscious ending in life. We often pay

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Speaker 1: more attention to how things begin verse how they end.

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Speaker 1: We subscribe to things that are on auto renewal and

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Speaker 1: pay for them for years. We sign up for a

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Speaker 1: retailer's website and continue to get their emails long after

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Speaker 1: we've ceased to care. We schedule recurring team meetings without

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Speaker 1: asking whether we actually intend to continue these on Tuesdays

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Speaker 1: until the end of time. Most likely we don't. Indeed,

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Speaker 1: we do know that there will come a Tuesday without

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Speaker 1: that staff meeting. The question is how it happens. I've

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Speaker 1: been pondering this with my running streak. One option I've

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Speaker 1: thought about is going to a thousand days and then stopping.

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Speaker 1: That would take me to late September two nine. There's

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Speaker 1: a nice roundness to that number, so there's something to

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Speaker 1: be said for that. Of course, one reason I've stuck

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Speaker 1: with my running streak is that I love to run.

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Speaker 1: Most days, I'm quite glad I went for a run.

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Speaker 1: So it's quite possible that I decide to end my streak,

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Speaker 1: but then wake up on the next late September morning

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Speaker 1: with the early fall sunlight dappling through the trees and

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Speaker 1: the just cooler temperature is beckoning to me, and I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'd really like to go for a run.

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Speaker 1: So we shall see. But as with athletes retiring on

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Speaker 1: top of their games, it's often wiser to end things

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Speaker 1: on your terms, rather than because circumstances force an end

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Speaker 1: upon you. If you're pondering ending something in your life,

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Speaker 1: try thinking what would make a satisfying story. For me,

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Speaker 1: a thousand days feels pretty satisfying. Not many people can

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Speaker 1: say they've run for a thousand days straight. For the

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Speaker 1: young man who stopped running for his wedding, it was

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Speaker 1: about acknowledging a new chapter of his life. You can

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Speaker 1: also mark the occasion in some way the groom brand

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Speaker 1: of five K with his wedding guests. I might decide

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Speaker 1: to run a really long run, like maybe a half

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Speaker 1: marathon or something to acknowledge the end of my streak,

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Speaker 1: throw a party, acknowledge how important the moment is, and

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Speaker 1: perhaps most important of all, it's good to end things,

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Speaker 1: to try something new that you're excited about. The happiest

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Speaker 1: former athletes start new ventures that use their time and energy,

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Speaker 1: whether that's businesses or nonprofit that's happy. Retirees are volunteering, traveling,

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Speaker 1: taking care of their grandchildren, writing books. I'm not planning

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Speaker 1: to stop running, even if I stopped running every day,

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Speaker 1: but maybe I could do something different with those non

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Speaker 1: running days, like committing to going for a bike rider,

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Speaker 1: taking an exercise class. In any case, a chosen ending

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Speaker 1: often feels more affirming than an unchosen ending. So what

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Speaker 1: are you looking to end and how can you end

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Speaker 1: it well? I'd love to hear your stories in the meantime.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b E the

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Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also

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Speaker 1: shoot me an email at before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia

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Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.

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