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February 25, 2006
Anyone Up for an Experiment?
Whilst pondering The Meaning of Life and Other Important Things this afternoon while running, it occurred to me that, in many weeks, I run more miles than I drive my car. Say today, I ran 8 miles, but I only drove my car less than 1 mile (That was driving my lazy arse home from work. I should walk, but it's one of the last things I'd like to do at 6 am when I'm just getting off a 12-hour shift and all I want to do is go unconscious. Anyways, I digress.). I wonder how many other runners out there put more miles on their bodies than their vehicles. Certainly among those of you who pound out 80, 90, 100+ mile running weeks, there are many of you who drive less than that. I'm vaguely curious about this, so I think I may keep track of how many miles I drive in reference to how many I run for a bit. A semi-official, non-scientific experiement. Anyone else curious about themselves?
It's positively springtime-like today. Ridiculously warm, in comparison to the painful cold of last week. The sun was out, and melting huge splashable puddles everywhere. There was even a robin hopping around the yard. Though wonderful, it was much too surreal, because I know more foul weather will come. My dog and I were so completely covered in mud and water by the end of our run. Part of that was caused by a tour bus who drove by awfully close for comfort and splashed us heartily with muddy water. I flipped the bus off, something I almost never do for fear of being hit or shot, but I was compelled to after having to wipe a dallop of mud off of my lip. It didn't dampen my spirits, though, because I was running around in less layers and NO HAT. I even had to take off my gloves for a while. Almost a heat wave.
8 easy miles today, 12 tomorrow, making 45 miles total for the week, barring any minor disaster.
Posted by Meghan at February 25, 2006 6:16 PM
Comments
I am sure there are weeks when I run more than I drive, but the big driving trips really cancel out the running. Last weekend I drove from Boston to New York and back, with a slightly out-of-the-way stop on both trips. If I want to beat my driving mileage, this would mean that I couldn't drive again for another 5-6 weeks or so. So if we didn't include the big trips, I'd do very well, but one big weekend of driving can really tip the scale. Imagine how much healthier we'd be if we ran more than we drove, though.
Posted by: Alison at February 26, 2006 6:15 AM
Great, great idea! Will try to keep track. Maybe we could say big out of town trips do not count and keep to metropolitan area driving. corrado
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at February 26, 2006 10:33 AM
Well, I definitely do not run as many miles as I drive. Not even Deena Kastor runs as much/week as I drive - 25 miles to work, 50 miles round trip x 5 days = mega mileage! :) Very good idea/goal though - if my husband ran more than 10 mpw he could probably achieve it!
Glad your tummy is better (I like the term "gut rot" by the way) and that it's "kind of" warming up!
Posted by: Beth at February 26, 2006 5:55 PM
ooh...i may be able to do that this week. i've got 63 on the schedule, and i drive about 60 miles each week to work and back. oh...dangit. i'm driving to phoenix this friday.
Posted by: jeff at February 27, 2006 8:44 PM
I often run more than I drive - I walk to work, and I try to make Matt run all my errands :)
However, if I go to Boulder for a trail run it does get kind of difficult (52 mile round trip), and if I go to the mountains it's mostly impossible (150-200 mile round trip).
Did you ever decide which marathon you're doing?
Posted by: barb at March 2, 2006 9:06 AM