In Defense of the Run Streak

By Christopher Mellott

I started running every day on January 5th, 2014... I haven’t stopped.

I didn’t start my running streak just to start a streak or participate in a challenge. I also didn’t lose a bet, in case that was your next guess. Honestly, I didn’t realize I was on a streak until about a month in. I just ran. 

In 2013 I had called off a wedding and I was trying to hold a deteriorating relationship together from across the country. I could feel her slipping away. I needed something that was mine and just mine. Running was that outlet.  I ran to process everything. Often spending entire runs thinking about what was next, how could I fix our relationship, was our relationship even worth saving. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t worth saving and ended in March of 2014. 

My relationship ended but running remained. And so did my streak. I fell in love with running when I was a high schooler and then again in 2013. Since then it has been an ongoing affair with no end in sight.

On each of the last 2,570 plus days, I have run a mile or more. Some days it's just that, a mile. Other days I run ultras. To put that into perspective, my running streak is older than my best friends' three kids combined. It is longer than I have known my wife and has spanned the Denver Broncos last two superbowl appearances over 14,000 plus miles, and some 30 plus pairs of shoes. 

The United States Running Streak Association states “The official definition of a running streak, as adopted by the Streak Runners International, Inc., and United States Running Streak Association, Inc., is to run at least one mile (1.61 kilometers) within each calendar day. Running may occur on either the roads, a track, over hill and dale, or on a treadmill.”

Every day isn’t sunshine and rainbows. I have run in some pretty miserable conditions from -20 or so up to 105 degrees. I have run in whiteout snow storms to tropical storms with inches of standing water on the ground. In airport hallways in jeans with all my gear in my backpack. I have run as early as 2:30 AM and as late as 11:50 PM.

Some of my most memorable runs are running in my apartment hallway for 30 minutes, back and forth down this 30 foot hallway to hit my mile. I was in a flash flood warning area and the sky was lit up with lightning like the fourth of July. I didn’t have access to a treadmill so I ran where I could. I remember running on bluebird day in Colorado where it was sunny and 35 degrees but the night before it snowed over eight inches. Work was closed, so I ran. It was beautiful. 

When my wife and I were still dating I remember I caught a cold and told her I was going for a run to keep my streak alive and she demanded that she supervise me in case I felt faint. I ran two miles on the treadmill while she watched me the entire time.

My running streak motivates me. It's hard to quit on something once you have invested so much. Even when I don't want to get out the door I do so because I have the weight of the last seven years of running every day. To me what is more important than the motivation is the feeling of being consistent. I may not be the fastest runner, the best runner, or the most experienced, but I am a consistent runner.

A running streak for me is one of the best things I have ever done for myself. For others it is probably a recipe for disaster, injuries or burnout. I would tell anybody who wants to start a streak to remember: it only has to be a mile to count so run it like one easy mile on a rest day. I would also tell them to think about the scout motto, “be prepared.” I have a bag in my truck with running clothes, towel and an old pair of running shoes. The clothes don’t fit great and the shoes are well past their prime but I never have the excuse that I don’t have stuff to run in. I always travel in running shoes, and carry a pair of shorts and a t-shirt with me on every flight.

In the end my run streak is about my love of running. It always has been. I can continue to chase the next best version of myself with running. In the end, Haruki Murakami said it best in his book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: “I’ll be happy if running and I can grow old together.”

When Chris is not out keeping his run streak alive, he can be found at Fleet Feet Syracuse in Clay. 
Book an appointment or stop in. He'd love to hear about your run streak.