What Happened When This Guy Ran 1 Mile a Day for 30 Days

Fitness YouTuber Chase Barron set a goal for himself in 2020: to crush 12, 30-day fitness challenges. He's already done yoga for 30 days , cranked out 100 burpees for 30 days , upped the ante to 200 burpees for 30 days , and walked 10,000 steps for 30 days . For his latest fitness challenge, he decided to run 1 mile every day for 30 days.

"I typically only run for two reasons: I'm late for the bus, or I'm being chased," he says at the start of the video.

On Day 1, his mile time was at 8:30.

"I'm feeling pretty confident," he says afterwards. "I have never been a runner."

Over the course of the month, one of the biggest changes he notices was the amount of weight he lost. Starting around 157 pounds, he ended the month at 148 pounds, dropping about 9 pounds.

"I'm not trying to lose weight, but running made it difficult for me to sustain my weight," he says.

He notes that running, in combination with the current quarantine that has "his daily habits and routines all out of whack", are likely why he lost that much weight.

Here are his top 5 takeaways from his running challenge.

Takeaway 1: Momentum really matters. "It's not about speed, it's about momentum," he says. "Every day I don't feel like running a mile at all, but I always came home from my run feeling better than before and full of momentum."

Takeaway 2 : Running vs. Recovery "I got crazy sore from running," he says. After one of his followers suggested he foam roll, he noticed improved recovery.

Takeaway 3: Shoes He used flat-footed shoes for his runs. He found that this required some change in his running form , so he adjusted, putting pressure on the ball of his foot rather than his heel, and felt really good.

Takeaway 4: The Runner's High. "I don't think I ran far enough to experience a true runner's high, but I might have been runner's buzzed," he says. "Unlike other workouts, running really forces you into the present moment. You have to be here and now with your breath and movement."

Takeaway 5: Get Worse Before You Get Better Barron talks about how his mile time fluctuated throughout the journey. At the end of week 1, his time improved to an 8-minute mile. But after that, his time got progressively worse for the remainder of the challenge, hovering at a 9-minute mile, then going all the way up to 10 minutes. However, on the last day, he decided to push it, and clocked in at 7:37.