Twenty three thousand, seven hundred fifty three.

That’s the number, for all intents and purposes, give or take a few…

23,753.

It seems kind of silly.

But that’s what it is.

***

As I was out doing a solid six-miler today, I began to wonder how many running miles I’ve logged in my lifetime, or at least since 1992 when I began to keep track of such meaningless things.

I knew the number was a big one. I didn’t quite know how big.

It’s 23,753 miles big.

In 1992, I began small. I ran 229.8 miles. In those days, I thought, “One year I’ll run 400 miles. That would be more than a mile a day!”

It took me a while, but I reached, and exceeded that goal in 2001 when I covered 563.3 miles.

Due to life, , a growing family, and such, I didn’t really start ramping up my yearly mileage until this century when I decided to try a marathon (the NYC Marathon, 2002). It was that race that also made me fall in love with the marathon.

I’ve done 21 marathons since 2002, I wish it were more, but, 21, hey, that’s pretty good.

I’m preparing for #22 on November 7, the NYC Marathon, once again. This will be my eighth New York City Marathon.

The first time I ever ran a thousand miles in a year was 2004 when I logged 1,025 miles. In 2009, I ran 2,025 miles. I haven’t been able to come close to that since.

I haven’t hit 1,000 miles since 2016. Stress fractures, muscle pulls and tears, and Achilles surgery have all gotten in the way. But, I’m on pace for about 914 miles this year so I just might make it again. If not, I should get there in 2022.

***

The Earth’s circumference at the equator is 24,901 miles.

I should reach that mileage in 2022. I’m about 1,148 miles away.

That will be pretty cool, knowing that I ran enough miles in my lifetime to run the entire equator.

How many people have done that?

Maybe I’ll have a party that day, the day I reach 24,901 lifetime running miles.

I’ll call the day, “Equator Day.”

I’m liking the idea!

***

The moon is about 239,000 miles away.

I don’t think I can run that far.

I should have started running sooner!

***

If you’re young enough to plan to run for fifty years, you only need to average 4,780 miles a year, for fifty years to log enough miles to “get to” the moon.

Of course, it would take another 50 years to get back home.

***

To borrow a famous phrase from Rocky Balboa, “It ain’t about how far you run… you just got to keep moving forward.”

Keep moving forward.

That is how winning is done.

I plan to keep moving, ever forward.

As long as I’m moving, I’m winning.

***

23,753.

Man, that’s a lot of miles.

I plan to run a bunch more tomorrow…