The Excel spreadsheet I use as my running log keeps track of my total lifetime mileage. I don’t pay close attention to that number, but every once in a while I notice that I’ve passed one milestone or another, like when I hit 20,000 miles in 2008.
My log also has a tab that displays my progress towards a circumnavigation of the Earth. I happened to glance at it and noticed that I had completed the trip around the world somewhere along the way. Of course I save all this stuff, so I looked back and found that it was on Saturday, August 27, 2011, 11 miles into an 18 mile run, when my lifetime total mileage reached 24,857 miles, the official, running log-approved, circumference of the Earth.
I started logging my mileage in 1992, so the trip around the globe took about 19 years. That’s not very fast, but it does show a certain amount of persistence.
At the moment, my lifetime total mileage is 27,592 miles. There’s still quite a ways to go before I reach the next milestone, a trip to the Moon.
At my current rate, I’ll see you at Tycho Crater sometime in 2143.