Get your mind out of the gutter. Admit it. You saw this title and you immediately thought “naked.” This post doesn’t have anything to do with being naked. Streaking is a running term.

For over 20 years now, I have kept track of my annual mileage running. As a semi-professional athlete who made it once to the Olympic Trials, training logs are important. They offer insights into what worked and what didn’t. You notice patterns. They help you to tweak your training in the future to be able to improve. 

Over the years, my mileage has ebbed and flowed. It all depends on what is going on in my life and for what I am training. For a long time, my lowest mileage year was 2016. That was the year I ended up in the hospital with what looked like stroke symptoms. It took a long time to recover from the physical challenges I had that year. 

That said, 2025 is now my lowest mileage year. In fact, 2025 was so low mileage, it makes 2016 look like a marathon year (which it most definitely was not). Why was my 2025 mileage so low?

The neighbor abuse. I was repeatedly injured by the neighbors on purpose. I was harassed daily. Any time I left the house, I was chased by people on bicycles, had rocks thrown at me, and even had vehicles attempt to run me over a few times. It was not safe for me to go outside. That is not counting the active gunfire that started in the neighborhood in June of 2025 or the attempted arson that started in July. 

Trying to walk inside in 2025 while we were living at the old house was not an option either. My activities were frequently interrupted by their behavior and harassment. There were many times we had to hide in the basement for safety, and even then, the house visibly shook around us. 

In 2025, my health took a huge hit. In addition to not being allowed to run or live my life, I was attacked and physically injured by the neighbor’s multiple times. From July until when we left in August, they pounded on the door every single night at random times screaming “fire!” to interrupt our sleep and torment us. This was after their very real attempt to burn down the house in July that resulted in leaves on the tree in front smoking. 

On top of all this, I am battling health issues not related to the abuse we experienced. The doctor last spring told me he thought I had cancer. Everything is exacerbated by the abuse we were experiencing. It didn’t help that I was being physically prevented from leaving the house to seek medical care.

We were forced to move to a different part of the state for our safety. Now that we are in a safe place where I can leave when I need, I am getting the medical care I need. I am improving very, very slowly. There are still some major issues as the result of the physical injuries the old neighbors inflicted on me. But things are moving in a positive direction.

So where does streaking come into play? 

The fact that I was physically prevented from running and leaving the old house had a negative impact on my health. As part of my journey to get my health back, I have decided to start streaking for 2026. 

Streaking is a running term that means continuous days of running. Some runners are just streakers. They will do a mile a day, 3 miles a day, whatever is in their personal wheelhouse.

I have never been able to be a streaker due to overuse injuries. I have always needed at least a day off between runs. I can run every other day, but not every single day.

So, how am I streaking now?

I’m walking. I’m not running. 

Walking is not as strenuous, so I have been ok to streak with walking but not with running.

The doctor is very concerned about me being able to run as a direct result of the physical injuries I have from the old neighbors. However, they are ok with me running and are also encouraging it, for multiple health reasons. 

Of course, my goal is to be able to run again. I was only doing 3 miles a few times a week in my retirement. I don’t need to go far anymore. I just need to go.

Those neighbors at the old house took many things from me, including my ability to run. It is going to be a long road to get things back they took from me. There are things they took from me that I will never get back. Some injuries are permanent. 

So, I am streaking though 2026 with walking. How does it work?

I am walking for 30 minutes a day. I am typically walking about a mile in those 30 minutes. Due to the several feet of snow we have, I am walking inside my house right now. I spend 15 minutes walking upstairs and then 15 minutes walking downstairs. I even found a special “walking” radio station to listen to while I walk. 

I am protecting this 30 minute walk each day as “me” time for both my physical health as well as my mental health. After what we lived through, I deserve 30 minutes a day just for me.

The 30-minute walk is helping a lot with my mood. I’m a lot happier when I’m walking. Of course, I would love to run, but I am not physically able to do that yet. It will come. It’s 30 minutes a day I get to have fun. I have some of my best ideas when I am running/walking. I am able to work through a lot mentally. 

Physically, the walking is helping me to get stronger. There are many physical health benefits of walking from blood flow to musculoskeletal. After all, if you don’t use it, you lose it. 

Some days I don’t feel like walking. I am still forcing myself to do the 30 minutes. I always feel better afterwards. You just have to start. Don’t let things get you down. I am not going to improve if I do not put in the work. 

On the days I don’t feel like walking, I tell myself to just do the first 15-minute segment. After that first 15-minute segment, I always feel so good that I do the second 15-minute segment to complete the 30 minute walk. 

We are only halfway through January. If I cannot streak through 2026, I won’t beat myself up over it. I am fully aware that life happens and I may miss days this year. 

For now, I am protecting that 30 minutes a day as time that I need to recover from the abuse we experienced. I am doing my best to streak through 2026. As soon as the snow and ice are gone, I will be spending my 30 minutes outside. 

For now, I am spending my 30 minutes walking inside my house. I am not bored. I look forward to my walk time each day. 

Have you tried streaking? You don’t need to streak for a year like I am attempting. Some people will try for one week or for 30 days. You can customize your streak to you. I am doing 30 minutes, but you may do 15 minutes for a week. Try it out and see how you feel. 

Here’s to streaking 2026. No nakedness involved.