Today I completed four years of running at least a mile every.single.day. I’ve probably mentioned it before, but when I started my streak in 2018, I was looking for something stable that I could control. I had submitted my resignation for my job, and knew I was burned out teaching Spanish, but I didn’t have another job lined up and didn’t know what I wanted to do. And someone I knew had just shared on Facebook about her run streak. So, I went out and ran a mile one day. And then I did it again the next day, and the next, and so on and so forth for the next 1,461 days.
I’ve run through illness, injuries, while on vacation, and in all kinds of weather. I’ve gotten to know the vehicles of people who drive by often, and which houses in the neighborhood up the road have dogs that will bark at me. I’ve tracked the sun’s position in the sky (north to south and back again) through the seasons and I’ve learned to recognize a lot more birds by sight and sound. I’ve also seen skunks, foxes, raccoons, wild turkeys, rabbits, countless squirrels, and even a beaver once in my neighborhood while out running. And I’ve continued to run throughout a global pandemic.
When I started my run streak, I didn’t have a plan of how long I would continue it, I just knew I needed something steady. And now, four years in, I still don’t have an end date in mind. It occurred to me today that I’ve never stayed in a job for more than four consecutive years. I don’t consider myself to be a job-hopper, exactly, but I recognize that I’m lucky enough to have had the ability to leave a job when something about it wasn’t a good fit.
So now my run streak has officially lasted longer than any job I’ve had. It’s lasted longer than a president’s term, and I think that’s…well, kind of cool. And so I’ll keep it going for now. Because where I am now (finishing my first year in yet another job, and with eight more classes to take to finish my master’s), I still need something to count on that I can control. And right now, that something is my run streak. So, tomorrow I’ll start year five of running every day, and we’ll see how long I can keep it going…
growingmoxie.com 