The days in October have been flying off the calendar and before we know it, it will be 2026. Wooohooo! Speedy year again in the books. Not as speedy in my running times but speedy for the days going by.

With the end of the year coming up, I like to see what number I will hit at the end of the year for total mileage because I am a big data nerd. It’s fun to reflect back on my past few years of running data (since 2019) and see what the yearly totals have been. I have hovered between 670-887 throughout the years. The reason I am specifically stating 887 at the top is because one year I ran 886.7 miles and another year 887. Talk about consistency!

The goal this year was to top 1,040 miles for the first time in around 7 years. I don’t know my years of running from 2017 and before but I do know I logged some big mileage in college. As of mid October this year, I passed the 870 mark which gives me a pretty good chance. I do have a pretty good chance of passing my five year personal best of 887. If I crank out a 18 mile run today, it will happen! (Disclaimer, I didn’t hit 18 miles on my run today after this post so it will take a few more runs to conquer that number).

At this point over the past few years, my mileage was between 550 to 700. That means I am well ahead of schedule and as long as I don’t have a season ending injury (fingers crossed because I am clumsy), I will be setting some sort of personal record. I remember a friend from high school once ran 1,000 miles only over the summer though so I shouldn’t be tooting my horn so loudly.

Now why the exact number of 1,040 and not 1,000 or 1,050? Well, 1,040 would put me at an average of 20 miles of running per week for the year. The ironic thing is I have only ran 20 miles a week exactly only twice this week. That means my data has been all over the place! Not very consistent and that is something I am hoping to bring into the next year. You can’t often do a good marathon or ultra marathon performance going between 10 miles a week to 30 miles per week. Ideally, I should be doing a whole lot more at 40-50 miles a week but oh well…

So what’s left in the tank to hit this number? It means I need to average around 17 miles per week through the end of the year. Janel and I have a half marathon and marathon attempt on December 20th so my mileage after that date will probably decrease with recovery. Currently I am averaging around 30 miles per week so here is to hoping that I put myself in the attainable position to hit the goal. If I don’t, that’s okay. All numbers are made up anyway.

So, with a run later today and a smile on my face, it was time to keep plugging away. Onwards through the spooky seasons!

Are you a person with a yearly mileage goal in mind? Are you pushing for the end of the year or happy to keep cruising on? Love to hear more from y’all on how it is going for ya!