1000 Miles
This is my 5th year achieving 1000 miles under my own steam. When I started this journey 5 years ago I was impressed by a journal entry by Don Hansen that I read at High Camp at Scottish Lakes. I generally get a bunch of suggestions along the way about next year setting the goal for 2000, but I'll stick with a 1000 at least with the way I have the rules structured now. If you want to do 2000 then go for it! :)
As is the case each year the goal challenged me. In the end its about consistency, which is one of the most enjoyable factors about this goal. 1000 seems big when you first hear it but when you divide out the numbers its only 2.74 miles a day and that its seems small and achievable. But that is daily and if your not consistent then it adds up on you and pretty soon your underwater. I remember feeling like I had it in the bag at the first of October when I was up 26 miles on the goal. Then I spent 10 days sick, 10 days in Europe and a week in Beijing. December began with 90 miles left on the goal and me being 36 down. After Beijing I was 50 miles down and only 2 weeks left. I had a few suggest that given the circumstances that I should be satisfied with how far I'd made it. But I was determined to dig down and get there. That meant some long runs or walks. I walked to work twice and did 23 miles on Snoqualmie Valley trail on Christmas Eve (which seems to end up as a yearly tradition given that I'm usually behind).
In the end I made it! And I made it in the valley where I grew up with some cold weather; one morning it rained instead of snowed and my shoes filled with slush. The last day it was 5 degrees out.
Since 1000 is in the end a number and an arbitrary one at that. I'll review a few of the numbers over the course of the year.
- 255 miles of this were done solo, by myself. This is in the end one of the most challenging things about this goal is that to reach it you have to get there on your own. Friends will get you part of the way there but only part.
- 202 miles were done running during lunch at work. Most often with my running crew. A big thanks and shout out to the regulars : Tom Taylor, Tom Plaster, Delfino Cornali, Bryan Roller and Marcus Dehart. I'll miss them in 2011.
- 304 miles were done in the Issaquah Alps (Tiger, Squak and Cougar). 95% of those were done on Cougar Mountain where I've been blessed to have lived for the last 6 years. I love running on their trails. I'd guess I've run over a 1000 miles on Cougar, never seen a cougar though.
- 214 miles were done in the mountains, excluding the Issaquah Alps. (We'll 21 of those were on the wilderness beaches of Olympic National Park, but I'm counting them anyway). These ranged from Mt. Si to Logan Canyon to the Grand Teton.
- 105 miles where with my family. These are the sweetest miles. The time spent outside with my wife and kids. Most of these were with my son Miles. Some of my favorite were the miles Stac and I walked in our weekend in Paris.
- 328 miles were done with the companionship of Hope, without her my solo miles would have been much much higher. She is a fantastic trail dog, she can go and go. She never runs off. She'll run ahead and turn to make sure I am coming. She pauses at ever junction to wait for me. She doesn't bark. She's more interested in getting out on the trail than me at times. I'll miss her as a companion in 2011.