365 Days of Running

Last December, as 2017 was waning to a close, I was at an emotional low. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I was tired. I had reached a stage in life when there was just too much to do, too many obligations, too many priorities. I lost my bearings. Through long reflection I concluded what I already knew but had never put to words; I was horrible at consistency and moderation.

For better or worse, I tend to obsessively focus on one thing at a time. That one thing will consume all of my energy, emotions and mindshare at the sake of everything else. Whether it is work, sports, training, personal projects or some other quest, I don’t moderate well. Focus is my greatest strength and weakness. As such, I’m bad at maintaining relationships. I’m bad at balancing work, family, and health. I’m bad at consistency because I focus on one thing at a time and that one thing changes based on the demands of life.

One of the areas in particular that I was most concerned with was my health. If I was going to be worth a damn to anyone, I need to start taking care of myself. With the challenge of consistency and moderation in mind, I defined one goal for myself in 2018: run at least one mile every single day for the entire year. Every single day, no matter what. I even made a public declaration as a way to hold myself accountable.

I never considered myself a “runner”. Here I was on faithful day 1 last January looking bewildered:

Run 1 — January 1, 2018

Fast forward 356 days, and I made it!

369 runs
165 hours and 20 minutes
1,031 miles (1,659k) all outdoors
60k ft of elevation.

Day 365 — December 31, 2018

My weight dropped off quite a bit early on in the year and took a turn upwards during the “Season of Gluttony” from Halloween to New Years. My blood pressure is also the lowest its ever been.

My weight throughout the year.

The beauty of the mile-a-day is that it’s 10–12 minutes of your day. In a pinch, I’ve run around a hotel parking lot in dress shoes. I’ve run home from the train station with a backpack and Vans. I drug myself around the neighborhood sick and on the verge of loosing all sense of dignity. Get it done anywhere, any time, no special equipment needed. If you don’t have 10 minutes to spare, you don’t care. And while you’re out there, you might as well keep going some days.

Throughout the year I’ve come to appreciate a few things:

Every moment is a choice. Whether by decision or indecision you decide how you spend that moment. Even if you’re forced to do something, you choose how you react to the situation.
There’s no better time than now. The best cure for inaction is action. The best time is now. Now is a gift. It’s all that matters and then it’s gone. All that’s left in the past are memories and regrets. The future will soon be now and then yesterday. Take advantage of the now.
You either do it or you don’t. No one cares about your excuses, and you should care the least. Failed? Learn, try something else, try again, but don’t dwell.
You’ll never be the best. Even in that unlikely moment you are the best, it’s only for a moment until someone else beats you and then you get old and slow and die. So don’t act like you should be the best.
Success is relative. This running every day thing is actually a thing: www.runeveryday.com. Naively, I had no idea! My 365 days is laughable compared to Jon Sutherland from West Hills, CA who has run every day since May 26, 1969! Almost 50 years! Amazing! But does this mean I’m not going to celebrate because my accomplishment is insignificant? Hell no! Success is relative. Set goals for yourself that you can measure against yourself. You can’t control who else shows up. You may do your best and have your best performance and yet everyone else is better. You place last! As they say, you do you.

Lastly I learned that introducing a consistent daily activity has actually created more balance in my life. It’s forced me to break focus when it was time to run which in turn forced me to evaluate what I did after my run. The run itself was a wonderful break to take stock of the day and plan what to do next. Serendipity!

Thanks to everyone who encouraged me throughout the year and to those who ran along side of me, especially my wife Jeanie! What are you doing tomorrow? I think I’m going for a run.

Epilogue

One of the best parts of running everyday was that I got to run wherever I was. I did a lot of runs in Colorado, a bunch in San Francisco and a smattering of other places including London and New York. Here are a few pictures from along the way.