That’s a whole heap o’ pavement pounding.

When you’re driving down the highway and glance at your odometer, don’t you get a little bit excited when you see you’re just about hit a milestone mile mark?

10,000 miles… 25,000 miles… 50,000 miles… or the Crème de la Crème… 100,000 miles.

Well, I’ve logged all of my miles since I started distance running in October of 2008 (a little OCD, I know). And this past Saturday I hit a milestone mark during mile 2 of my 20-mile run (prepping for the OC Marathon coming up in 3 weeks).

I just rolled my “running odometer” (or should I say pedometer) past 5000 miles.

And just how far is 5000 miles?

• That’s equivalent to driving back and forth from Los Angeles to Atlanta (I’ve done it) and still having mileage leftover for a side trip to San Diego.

or

• Flying from New York to London, stopping to refuel and continuing on to Moscow (Bring on the Vodka).

or

• Ten roundtrips from Earth to the International Space Station in orbit (Although re-entry gets a little toasty).

or

• According to The Proclaimers’s song, that’s walking to be the man and falling down in front of 5 different doors (C’mon, you know the tune).

or

• If running were my full -time job and I worked a 40-hour week (basing it on 10 min/mile) I would be celebrating almost 6 months steady employment at Crazy Runners Inc.

or

• If I were a car, I’d already have had my oil changed and my tires rotated (Although I don’t know if the guys at Jiffy Lube would want to top off my fluids and vacuum my interior… ouch).

Run on Forrest!

When you lump all of the miles together like a giant pile of M&Ms (hopefully with lots of green ones) it sounds like I’ve been pulling a non-stop coast-to-coast Forrest Gump run-a-thon ever since Barack Obama was first elected President.

Well, as much as I’d like to say I could rock that Gump-like beard, it really just means I’ve been steadily averaging around 20-25 miles per week. When compared to more experienced runners, I’ve still got a long long long way to go before I’m even in the same area code (hell, even the same time zone) as them.

But still, 5000 miles feels like a mark I should pause momentarily and reflect upon. So, pause with me.

In my 5000 miles of running, here’s a few personal stats I’ve compiled:

• 5,000 miles equals over 833 hours of non-stop running (Okay, that makes me a little tired).
• 5,000 miles equals approximately 8,800,000 steps (Left foot, right foot)
• I’ve listened to approximately 12,495 songs while running (That’s a lot of Fall Out Boy)
• 5,000 miles equals approximately 625,000 calories burned (I think I’ll have that extra beer).
• I’ve drank approximately 104 gallons of water/energy drinks (Now I really have to pee).
• I’ve worn out 15 pairs of running shoes (Yup, I’m burning rubber… sorta).
• I’ve completed 43 races (Including: 6 Marathons, 26 Half Marathons & 9 10Ks)

And I guess I am improving because my fastest marathon ever was the 2014 LA Marathon that I just ran in March. And my fastest half marathon ever was the 2014 Hollywood Half Marathon, which I just ran last week. So, clearly I’m making strides.

But before I go patting myself on the back too hard, I think about the work adage that if you truly want to excel at something you need to practice it for 10,000 hours.

So, by that estimate I’m about 9% of the way to not sucking.

Be gentle fellas.

Guess I’ve got a few more miles to run… about another 50,000 miles to be exact (woo hoo). I better get started on the next 5,000.

Of course, when you’re car gets past 50,000 miles you’re supposed to go in for a major tune-up. I wonder if it’s the same for people.

Not sure I’m looking forward to having my belts and plugs replaced and someone rooting around my undercarriage (hopefully their hands aren’t too cold).

Run on!

(Let me know how many miles you’ve logged since you started running)