My number from Mt Ashland

I don't save many numbers, but this one was unique.  I wore it as pictured below.

May 9 & May 12

Today is one of the two weirdly significant dates in my running. Through a quirk of fate I have never missed running on those two days. The other 364 days I’ve missed at least once in the more than 30 years of running.

May 9 – most run = 19 miles, least run = 3 miles.
May 12 – most run = 16 miles, least run = 3 miles.

I’ve only missed running once on Feb 29, Dec 10, five days in April, and three days in May. It looks like April and May have the least missed days and Nov/Dec have the most.

In all I’ve missed 1,472 days over the span of 11,115 days or 13%. That works out to an average of 1 day off for every 7.5 days run.

Most popular date to not run:
Feb 23 = 9
Oct 10, Nov 19, Dec 27, & Dec 30 = 8

Old Picture from Switzerland in the mid-1990's. Left to right: Mike Casner, Dan Verrington, dd, Lyndon Ellefson, Robb Reece.

Most popular day to race

I’m not sure what the most popular day to race is but for me it has been the 4th of July with 14 races and New Year’s Day with 12. Thanksgiving (the holiday….not the date because the date varies) ranks third for me.

I’m guessing that Jan. 1 is the most popular day to race AND the most popular day to run. My thinking is that people make resolutions to work-out and start on Jan. 1. I’m looking forward to running the Winners Circle Hangover race and take the Ocean Plunge again this year.

My top dates raced:
7/04……14
1/01…….12
Thanksgiving…11
5/03………8

There are only two days that I have run on every time in the last 30 years. Due to injuries and such I’ve missed running on every day except May 9 and May 12. There are a bunch of days that I’ve only missed once. The most missed would be a tie with 8 zero mile days for Oct. 10, Nov. 9, Dec 27, and Dec 30.

I’m not sure what any of this means but I enjoy crunching numbers.

Picture above is from the Chelmsford Alumni XC race which is held the day after Thanksgiving. Pic courtesy of Dave LaPierre.