Yesterday, on a day full of so much stress and chaos, marked the completion of a year of running a minimum of at least one mile every day; most days I easily surpassed that. I never thought that I would join the ranks of those runners yet now I cannot see myself as any other kind.

I have tried a run streak before several years ago when I attempted the Runner’s World Memorial Day to July 4th streak. For reasons I do not remember clearly, the attempt failed. Around this time I had suffered some sort of mild back injury which one of the daily runs aggravated. Thus, I determined that I must be one of those runners who can never sustain more than three days of running in a row putting all thoughts of running streaks completely out of my mind.

Then came last spring and Covid-related shut downs. I joined a virtual “race” across Tennessee which inspired me to look for ways to add additional miles. Since running a mile takes less time than walking a mile I decided to start a streak and see how long I could safely sustain it. I should have known that with my personality that meant maintaining it indefinitely.

Now, one year later, I have no intentions of stopping. Not even Covid could keep me from getting in the bare minimum mile, slowly and with no cool down. I can keep this up. The streak has inspired me to see what other sorts of things that if I set my mind to them, I can do. Here’s to the next year and beyond!