DONE!!!
COMPLETED!!!
FINISHED!!!
Back in 2011 I set a goal to walk 10,000 miles and complete 100 races (mainly walking with a bit of running thrown in, usually downhill). It was just something to do. I don’t fish, I don’t golf, I walk. Plus, it also helped with waistline, and cholesterol/triglyceride levels. After completing a few races, I found I needed to have a longer-range goal. Something to keep me going, something to keep me motivated. Hence the goal.
I did reach the 10,000-mile goal in 2017 but still had a bunch of races yet to complete.
In July (2022) completed my 105th race, a 3.1-mile trail race on Sawnee Mountain in Georgia. Yes, I know that’s more than 100 – I signed up for an eight-race series of trail races. I got a discount for signing up for the series.
Race totals:
5Ks – 31
10Ks – 10
Half Marathons – 42 (favorite distance)
Full Marathons – 4 (least favorite distance)
Great Saunters – 4 (32 mile walk around Manhattan in a day)
Odd distance races – 14
Most of the races were in Georgia but I also got to do events in: Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Utah, and California.
A highlight for me, in 23 of the races, I got to do them with family members. I was able to do races with all three of my kids, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, and two of my grandkids. They have no idea how special that was for me.
At best, and I really mean at best, my lifelong athletic abilities would probably be considered average… at best. But as I got older a funny thing started happening. Fewer and fewer guys in my age category would show up to do these races. All a sudden, I started getting podium (1st, 2nd, or 3rd place) finishes for my age bracket. That was something that never happened before. I figured it’s always better to go out when you’re on top. For each of the races in the eight-race series I just completed, in the male 65-69 category, I had podium finishes.
I’ll continue walking, just done doing races. Time to move on to something different.
This was fun, glad I did it.
Congratulations on following through - especially while (very obviously) enjoying the journey! Thank you for sharing it out with us. I remember being so impressed by your ambition back when you first started - boggles my mind a bit to realize we are so many years down the road. Happy travels on your next TBA adventure!
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