Day 3,907 —The Miles: 2,678.42: there were so many Robbins out Today—

I averaged 7.1 miles a day this year, which makes this my second-longest year ever. My longest was in 2020, with 3,750.84 miles averaging over 10 miles a day. This is my 11th-year streak running, and my total running average is 5.572 miles a day. Often, the first question people ask me when I tell them I run every day is how much on average. 

It is not like I don’t want to tell people the average, but it is deceptive. If you’re asking about this year, it would be 7.1 miles this year and last year it would be 6.4 miles and in total it would be 5.572. When I think of average I think about a normal week and what I do, I normally run between 3-6 miles each day Monday through Friday, and I run between 8-30 each day on the weekend. 

In my mind, that’s always the pattern I follow. Yet, I should be happy about this year being my second longest. I knew when I hit 3,750 that I might never get anywhere that close again, but this year, I did run my longest week, and I don’t know. In 2020 I wasn’t going to school and I only had one child. This year I have two children and have been going to school full time as well as working. 

This is something I always think about when I look at the numbers. In 2012 I wasn’t streak running but I still put up 1,727.66 miles and in 2018 I had my worst year ever with 1,040.02 miles. Part of me is embarrassed that I was streaking that year and only averaged 2.85 miles a day, but then I remember how much I was struggling. I was robbed at gunpoint in the fall of that year, which was followed by my lowest three-month average ever, but I came back in 2019 running 2,298.87 miles with a 6.3-mile average. 

 I am sure this is different for everyone, but I try to remember my lowest moments fondly because those were times in my life when it was more difficult than it had been ever before, but I still found a way to keep running, to keep moving forward. And it is not like I wanted to, but I did. 

I don’t know what is going to happen in 2025, but I know I just signed up for my first 200-mile race. 2025 is going to be a year that I do things that I have never done before. In 2024 I did things I had never done before, I ran over 200 miles in a week, and I finally completed the Shawnee Hill 100! I completed two 100-mile races I had never done before, placing in both, and I did my most miles in a week. I think that is something. 

In 2025 I would like to run my longest race ever 200 miles! And my longest week over the summer. I would like to get to over 300 miles in a week. If I am going to run Vol State and need to be able to put up that kind of numbers. The Vol state 500k might be my 2026 plan. 

So far, I am signed up for the Shippey 100, a 24-hour race in Cape, and the Potawatomi Trail 200. 

I always do the Go St. Louis Marathon. I usually do the Berryman 50, the Dark 2 Dawn for 9 hours, the Get You But Kicked for 6 hours, and the Shawnee Hill 100.

Right now, I am thinking I most like likely will do all those races and do one of the 100-mile races I didn’t complete in the past either the Mamba 100 or the one I did this past year, but maybe I should decide right now to sign up for the Mamba. 

That will mean I plan on doing 3 100-mile races, 1 200-mile race, and 1 50-mile race. The timed races will vary, but there is a chance I will add some 50Ks and possibly a 100 mile in the 24 hours, so it looks like it will be a good year. 

I keep thinking I want to go back and do the Tunnel Hill 100 again, so I could always do that, but I think having attempted a race and not finished it I need to get back to those ones first, and I think what I should start with is the Mamba 100.

I am coming for you Mamba! I didn’t take you seriously in 2023. I got sick and couldn’t finish! That is not going to happen again.