29 Ways Runners Can Celebrate Leap Day

Monday is Feb. 29, the magical leap day that comes every four years. Although it doesn’t seem like much—February is already at a loss with 28 days normally, right?—one extra day opens a whole lot of doors for runners to step into and get the most out of that extra 24 hours. Here are 29 ways to celebrate this year’s plus-one:

1. Try our Leap Year Plyo Challenge! We’ve been posting plyometric moves all February; pick your favorite four and try four reps of each one.

2. Stop procrastinating on the “register” button. There are so many races just waiting for you to tackle them, like the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series, which definitely can fill your calendar between now and the next leap day. What are you waiting for?

3. Tackle one more run before March rolls around. So you skipped last week’s recovery run or slept through your long run on Saturday. Now’s your chance to make it right!

4. Stretch a bit more. If your plan revolves around a 28-day February, use the bonus time to get an extra stretch session in.

5. Try a new class. Yoga, Pilates, barre, Crossfit—commit to trying something new that you’ve avoided since Jan. 1. Consider Feb. 29 your new New Year’s resolution.

6. Run a new running route to inform your choices in March.

7. Make a really bad running joke at work. (Mondays are awful already, so use this extra day to your advantage to make it a little better.)

8. Go big and set a four-year running plan for yourself and check back in on Feb. 29, 2020.

9. Leap off of curbs and dance during your morning, afternoon or evening runs. The point? Because it’s fun, because it’s weird and because it’s a leap day.

10. You have to play a game of leap frog with your running buddies. Think: running + leaping over another human = cross-training?

11. Make a running playlist of songs that are all about jumping. (Think: Kriss Kross!)

12. Write down 29 running goals you want to accomplish in the next four years and hide it away until Feb. 29, 2020.

13. Eat pizza because it’s good, but also because Julius Caesar created the leap year in the first place. #carboloading

14. Find a staircase and see how many sets of 29 you can do.

15. Gather your run buds for a 29-minute run in the morning. Fine, you’re allowed to make it an even 30.

16. Take an off day and go see the movie that just won an Oscar that you haven’t seen yet.

17. Catch up on your Run The Year Challenge with the added day to hit 2,016 miles!

18. Have a cheat day. Think of it this way—you won’t do it again for four years.

19. Propose to your boyfriend or girlfriend…to go for a run. But really, an old tradition says that females do the proposing on leap day, so why not make it official?

20. Make peanut butter cookies shaped like frogs, because March 1 is National Peanut Butter Day, and frogs leap.

21. Map out a destination 29 miles away that’s safe for a run, and drive to your starting point!

22. Educate yourself on a “rare disease” on National Rare Disease Day and sign up for a race that benefits that cause!

23. Follow 29 new runner Instagram accounts. We’d like to give a gratuitous recommendation to check out all of our bloggers and Team WR (us!) on the ‘gram.

24. Call 29 runner friends and congratulate them on their latest accomplishments. Bonus points if you have a friend who was born on Feb. 29!

25. Try a new diet for one day and know you have four years before you have to do it again.

26. Go to happy hour after your run and ask for the “leap day cocktail,” a cousin to the traditional martini that only goes out to the bars every four years.

27. Go for a walk instead of a run around Disneyland. Rumor has it that park will be open for 24 hours on this day!

28. Book a flight for a destination race. Some airlines are offering special one-day discounts that will get you to the start line on the cheap!

29. Call in sick to make sure you get all of these things done (adjust #7 accordingly). Leap Day is a holiday, right? (Right?!)