Milestone reached!

Today's blog entry is dedicated to my completion of my around the earth milestone. I'll edit with pictures as I have them available from today.





Running:
Monday I was able to get out for a six mile run during my lunch break. I ran this in 48:12. I was raining most of the way, but I had to get this run in to set the stage for Tuesday and completion of my first earth lap. On the milestone run today I was joined by Dan Murphy from work. It was great to share the day with a friend and fellow runner. Dan and I talk frequently about marathon running. This is the first time we have run together though. I was happy he joined me and look forward to doing it again. We needed to time our return to the office because there was going to be some other coworkers there to observe the ceremonial breaking of the tape and take some pictures. We ended up needing to take an extra 1/2 mile loop to time our arrival for 1:00. We ended up running it (5.5) miles in 46:23. But time didn't matter today. It was all about completing the lap. Several people were waiting by the drive when we returned. It was great to celebrate the milestone completion with several friends from work.

The history:
While I actually probably reached this milestone some time ago, any miles I put on before 1988 were not kept track of. When I was 11, I actually started to run every morning on my paper route. This was more efficient than using a bike in hilly Bayfield. I ran cross country in high school all four years. I also belonged to the YMCA and Vic Tanny health clubs during the early 80's. So I've always ran some, but never consistently until 1988. So who ever would have thought that two job changes because of layoff, a new pair of Nike Pegasus running shoes, and the free running log that came with them would have lead to this. After 21 years of running almost every lunch break since 1988 and lots of weekend days, I have on October 27th 2009 logged enough miles to complete my first documented lap of the earth. 24,857 miles according to the run log I use. That's an average of 3.24 miles every day for 7670 days.



1988 was a very turbulent year for me. After being in one place for seven years the two job layoffs completely disrupted my routine. I no longer could easily make it to the YMCA where I had been going all that time. Because of that I decided I would begin to run more. I didn't need a gym for that. I went to a local running store and purchased a brand new pair of Nike Pegasus running shoes. These shoes just so happened to have a free running log given away with purchase. Early in 1988 my new routine was to run a few miles every work day either in the morning or at my lunch break. Since I worked in downtown Milwaukee I could run along the Lakefront and use the shower at the downtown YMCA where I had transferred my membership. In the fall another layoff came, but in November 1988 my new employer Fiserv had a shower I could use at work. Since there was no YMCA close I figured I would just run at my lunch break.

In the early years when our office was located on 114th street my running would be along a couple different routes. Unless there was snow I usually ran west along the power line which was close by, or if there was snow I ran loops around and in Greenfield park. When we moved to the current location in Brookfield I quickly found different loops of varying length, but pretty much settled on two different routes one four and another five miles. Thousands of miles have been put on these same couple loops. I do use the treadmill once in a while, but I much prefer to go out. And I have gone out all year round in all types of weather. I've run in -26 air temp, I've run in -50 wind chill, I've run in 100+ temps and hotter with heat factor, wind, rain and whatever else mother nature can throw out there. In 2004 a friend and coworker (now ex-coworker) Jerry Cameron talked me into training for and running a marathon. This has lifted my running to a whole new level. Over half of the earth lap miles have come over the past six years. Almost 13,000 of them. Living west of Milwaukee where I do is awesome for a runner. There is so much varying and interesting terrain. There is state forest, quiet country roads, paved bike trails, or many wooded trails to choose from. For me it makes running fun.

That original hand entry log was filled up in a couple years, as were a few more. In 1994 I created a simple .XLS spreadsheet, transferred my hand written miles into it and logged my new time there. Each tab was a new year. In 2004 I found a real run log on the Internet that I have been using since to log all my miles. Every year I've run in the neighborhood of 300 days each year. I've now run in 15 marathons, two ultra marathons, 4 half marathons and numerous other shorter races. Being able to run the Boston marathon in 2006 was definitely a highlight of this journey.

I don't know how long the next earth lap will take, but I'll keep at it as long as I possibly can. The next lap starts tomorrow.