Well, I hit another major running milestone this past week. After logging my 200th long run a couple weeks back, I crossed over the 20,000 lifetime miles threshold on a run last weekend. I’ve ramped up my weekly mileage over the past couple years so what took almost 6 years for the first 10k only took a little over 4 years for the next 10k.
Lifetime miles is a bit of a misnomer though. It’s really just since I started tracking my miles in 2012. I ran track back in high school for two years (high hurdles). I also ran very sporadically in the twenty years between then training for the random 5K or mud run. If I had to guess, I would say all those miles combined were much less than 1,000. Maybe somewhere in the 500 mile range. While not nothing, it’s a low enough number (and spread out over a long enough period of time) that for all intents and purposes I don’t even consider them when thinking about lifetime miles.
Just like 10k miles wasn’t a big deal for me, 20k miles also isn’t a cause for cake and celebration. It’s definitely worth noting (what else would I blog about this week?), but not something that I’ve been driving towards achieving. I mean, there’s a reason I haven’t posted about my lifetime mileage in over 4 years. At this point, it’s just a function of my ultra lifestyle where I’m consistently running and racing. You stack enough days up and eventually you get to this point.
And that’s probably the bigger takeaway. I’ve managed to hit 20k miles in just less than 10 years because I have been consistent with getting in miles. Every week I’m managing to add to my total because I’ve been both healthy and motivated to run. And I’ve also had the support of my family to spend the time it takes to get my miles in. The Physical, Mental, and Family tripod has been critical to getting me where I am today. Who knows how much longer I’ll manage to keep the tripod upright. Fingers crossed it’s many more 10Ks into the future.