Wannabe Runner

As long as I can remember, I've always admired people that go our run day after day, month after month, etc. Even as a kid, it seems like everytime we were in the car in our town, we saw the same guy running. Appropriately we would call out, "There's The Runner. I win. I saw him first." Through college and after, I can't tell you how many times I've started running, only to quit a few weeks later.

Last December (2007) ESPN.com featured an article about Robert Kraft. He lives in Miami, Florida. In an effort to reduce his stress, he began running. He hasn't missed a day since...Jan 1, 1975. Yeah, 1975. I read the article at least 3 times. I told my neighbor to read it. He did. We then both committed to give it a shot; run at least one mile per day for a year. I couldn't wait, so I put in my first mile on Dec 27, 2007. My neighbor started Jan 1, 2008. Here's a link to the ESPN.com article. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=streakrun

We've both agreed that upon finishing the year there's no way we can stop. Why break the streak for no reason? It only takes a mile to keep it alive. Who doesn't have 10 minutes? Everyone does regardless of their schedule. It just depends whether they want to or not. So on Dec 27 and Jan 1, our streaks will move into their 2nd years.

Why the title for this post? I haven't missed a day. I'm getting in 60 miles a month. I ran 90 miles in July. I ran 4 races this year (2 of them 10k). I've been fitted for shoes and orthotics. I listen to running related podcasts to learn more about the sport. With that said though, I don't consider myself a runner. Not sure why. I'm proud of saying that I run everyday, but I couldn't tell someone that I'm a runner. Just doesn't feel right.