In 2018, I was determined to run 1000 miles, and despite being behind the pace for most of the year, I managed to catch up, and achieve my goal. In 2019, I thought why not do it again. Since I was running the Brighton Marathon in April, I would have logged a serious number of miles in training, hitting the 1000 milestone should have been easy.
Except, I lost my way and took some running breaks throughout the year. Throw in a few low mileage weeks, illness, and some work trips, and I saw myself looking at how much I would need to run in December (over 100 miles) to reach the target.
So, did I run 1000 miles or not?
I knew I could hit a 100+ mile month, except I’d not done it in a while, and maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing for my mental health, my family life, and especially not for my physical health. The last thing I wanted was to pick up an injury right before going into 2020 marathon training.
So, in the end I finished on 974 miles for 2019. Tantalisingly close, but no cigar. In fact, 1 marathon distance away from the target, which is a little ironic, as the marathon was the thing that I thought would make it easy, and in the end, it turned out to be the distance I was missing.
So, why even bother running 1000 miles?
When I chose to run 1000 miles in 2018, I wrote a post about it, you can read it here, but the basic reasons behind it were:
- Giving myself a bigger target outside of a single race
- Negate any ‘bad’ run (we all have them), as every run counts towards my target
- I missed out on some PBs and this target gave me motivation to keep running
So how intense is running 1000 miles in a single year?
Well, unless you get ahead of the curve, it can be pretty intense. As you can see from my brief description about this year’s failure, all it takes is a few low mileage weeks, an illness, and you start to fall behind.
Here’s what you need to run (if you were to run evenly throughout the year) to achieve your target:
- Monthly: 83.33 miles / 1609.34 km
- Weekly: 19.2 miles / 31 km
- Daily: 2.74 miles / 4.41 km
What do you get, what support is there?
Both times when I’ve done this, I’ve done it independently. That being said, I wasn’t alone, I made sure to tap into the #run1000miles community on Twitter and lInstagram for support. First check out Trail Running Magazine #run1000miles there is lots of great info here, including help on how to plan your year and tips to keep you going.
But you might like something more structured, and want to join up with a virtual run, where you log your miles, and receive a medal at the end. If you are keen on a bit of fanfare and bling at the end, it can be a great motivating factor, here’s a website you might like: Run the Distance – Click here for their 2020 challenge
Was I disappointed to miss out running 1000 miles?
Yes, part of me was. But I came to terms with it pretty quickly. An American colleague, I saw during a work event in November, was supremely impressed that I’d run 888 miles (my total at that point), and when I told him I wasn’t sure if I was going to reach 1000 miles, he said, well it really doesn’t matter, it’s still impressive, and you are near enough.
Plus, as I’ve did reach the target in 2018, I know that I can do it, so that also took some of the sting out of missing the big number!
Will I try to run 1000 miles again?
I think I’ll just see how the year goes. If it looks like I’m getting close, I’ll give it some welly, but if I’m off the mark, I wont stress. I guess that is what 2019 has taught me. Not every self imposed target has to be reached. I have enough stress in my life, I don’t need to add more stress to that by trying to run an arbitrary number. Quite simply, targets and goals are good, but not if they are not making you feel good.
Should you run 1000 miles?
Take a look at your mileage from 2019, and choose a reasonable target. For example, my friend Anna ran 1000 kms in 2019, and another friend ran 500 miles – it doesn’t have to be 1000 miles! It is nice to have this challenge ticking away in the background giving your active lifestyle purpose and motivation to get out there.
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Have you ever run 1000 miles in a year? Did you like the challenge? Are you considering running 1000 miles (or another target) in 2020?Spread the love