We're officially 22 days into the Runner's World running streak, and for the past three weeks I have religiously been running every day. Some days just a mile to make sure I get my distance to qualify -- other days 3-5 milers.

It's been a good run, but I think my streak is coming to a very premature end.

I've noticed a nagging in my left hamstring since Saturday. I'm not sure if I did something specific to irritate it in my softball double-header Saturday morning or if it's just sore from the accumulation of running without a real rest day.

At first, I did what any stubborn runner would do: Ignore it. Run through it. Stretch it out and hope for the best.

I only ran a mile on Saturday evening after my games and that seemed to go OK.

Sunday's mile was not fun. My hamstring barked at me the whole way, every time I lifted up my left foot. By the end of the day, my hamstring hurt when I was walking.

This morning, getting out of bed was not fun, but I figured with some stretching, a nice, easy, very, very slow one-mile run to keep the streak alive would be manageable.

I ran half a block and realized there was no chance I was running a mile on my hamstring in its current condition. I stopped to stretch. Thought maybe I could push on. Tried to run a few more steps and then stopped.

This run streak has been fun. I've really enjoyed the challenge of squeezing in at least one mile each day -- even on days I would typically consider rest days. But this streak is not something to be stupid about.

This is not the time to push through a nagging hamstring thing -- just so I can say I completed the streak.

I've been stupid about stuff like this before and it's never ended well, so this time I'm going to try to be smarter. My hamstring is telling me it needs some time off and maybe a little TLC, and I'm going to grant it that.

Once it loosens up again, I'm hoping to pick the streak back up. I know it's not the same as running the whole time, but I'm working with what I've got going on here and trying to make the best of it.

Half marathon training will be starting in a month or so, and I can't be dealing with some stupid hamstring thing because I held on to this running streak for dear life.