My 2017 goal overview

My goal for 2017 - running 1,000 miles - is largely inspired by a man named Danny Chew. You can easily google him, but here's a quick summary... Danny, a Pittsburgh native, set a lifetime goal of cycling 1 million miles outdoors. For those that know anything about Pittsburgh, he's not able to take advantage of all 12 months of the year to achieve that goal due to the harsh snowy winters. He's kept meticulous records of his mileage, which you can also find via Google.

I first stumbled upon his name because of The Dirty Dozen bike race, a Thanksgiving weekend tradition in Pittsburgh for 30+ years that involves climbing 13 of the city's steepest hills while riding more than 50 miles. You can also Google the race to find some crazy YouTube footage of people falling over on the steepest climbs!

Unfortunately, Danny had an accident while riding in late 2016 and is currently partially paralyzed. He is still planning on completing his lifetime goal although a hand-cycle may now be required. His website reports that he surpassed 600K in 2006 and 700K in 2012, so I suspect he's currently somewhere around 760K (based on 100K every 6 years).

While reading more about him following the accident, he had a mantra that was similar to my goal of last year, which was to run every road in East Greenwich, RI starting and ending at my house (read about it here). His saying is something along the lines of "why would you ride the same road again if there's a road that you haven't ridden yet." I can't say that I will follow that mantra as I strive to achieve my goal, but I have some ideas about extending my coverage area in Rhode Island...

I have finished 2 indoor runs on the treadmill - 3 miles on Jan 1 and another 3 miles today (Jan 3). I will need to average just under 3 miles per day, but I obviously won't be running every day - my hope is that I can use this year-long goal as a springboard to multiple half marathons and perhaps a full marathon. The most I've run in a year is about 500 miles (last year, with 350 miles being directly involved in my EG accomplishment), so this is indeed a stretch for me - I have no doubt I'm physically capable of doing it, but can I remain motivated for the duration? Time will tell...