Is a 1-Mile Run Worth the Effort?
Lessons learned from running a single mile every day
Running and I suffered a serious breakup a number of years ago. We had been hot and heavy for a while in my 20s and 30s but lost the magic in my mid-40s.
Now, in my early 50s, I’m rekindling the relationship, and it’s been very different. The red-hot excitement of the early days, embracing every challenge as quickly as I could, has cooled to a slow burn. I’ve lit the match and have been slowly reigniting things. This time, the goal is long-term smoldering.
Off to a Slow Start.
When I say slow, I mean really slow. Like one-mile-at-a-time slow.
Beginning January 1 this year, I set a goal to run a single mile every day. That was it. One mile. Every day. No excuses.
Running a single mile, especially if you have a history of running longer, sounds ridiculous. There are so many reasons not to:
- It’ll take almost as much time to change into running clothes as it will to run the mile.
- It’s such a short distance, it won’t matter if I do it or not.
- If I’m only running one mile, am I even a runner?
