I track all my runs using Daily Mile (you may have noticed the handy little widget in the sidebar, if not, it's over there. >>>) It's an online running community that has been hugely valuable to me this year. Whenever I had a question about training, shoes, nutrition, you name it, these people had the answer. Plus, they post nice comments all the time. Whether you have a good run or a crappy one, there's someone to encourage you. I like how the site tracks your miles, in total, year to date, and by week, and there are all sorts of infographics, which are my weakness.

It's also nice to track your runs amongst a group of fellow enthusiasts, so you aren't that asshole tweeting to the masses about every workout, making everybody who's checking their phone over hungover eggs benedict feel even more awful. I've been on both sides of that scenario and it's no good. The only people who really give a shit that you've gone for a run are people who run themselves.

A couple months ago I did some quick math (is "quick math" an oxymoron for anyone else?) and figured out that if I ran approximately 25 miles a week for the rest of 2012, I'd hit 1,000 miles this year. I decided that I'd count biking miles too, which is cheating, kinda sorta, but makes it a lot easier for me to reach my goal. Admittedly, September is a stupid time to set a mileage goal for the year, which was mistake #1. Mistake #2 was pretty much taking June off from running. It wasn't a mistake for my IT bands, so in the long run, it was a smart move. But as you can see, June is definitely the low point on my little graph. I ran the half in May and then it was like URRRCHHHHHHH! (that's my cartoon sound effect for "a screeching halt"):

So I won't technically be able to say I "ran" 1,000 miles. My plan is to "cover" 1,000 miles this year.

There are seven weeks left in 2012, and as of right now I have to knock off 21.7 miles per week to make my goal.

For seasoned runners, long-distance types, and people that are really serious about it, 1,000 miles in a year is very small potatoes. There are people who go out on a Saturday morning and do a long run for shits and giggles that's longer than what I'm aiming to do in a week.

I'm not sure what it is about the number 1,000 that resonates with me, but that's my goal: 1,000 miles this year.

I've already beaten the 1,000 kilometre mark. As of today I've run 1,084 kilometres and covered 1,384 in total. 1,000 miles just sounds cooler. Sorry, metric system.

So I've just spent the past 10 minutes poking around in Daily Mile and learned a bunch more fun stuff:

• I have exercised for 145 hours this year 
• I have burned 21 pounds (THEY LIE) 
• I've gone around the world 0.03 times
• I've saved $45.28 in gas
• I've powered 126 TVs
• I've burned off 413 donuts