(PCM) Think you’re pretty tough when you run three or four days in a row, or maybe even make it a full week? Imagine running 16,075 days in a row!
Mark Covert currently has the longest active running streak EVER recorded by the U.S. Running Streak Association. He began running July 23, 1963 when he was in high school and hasn’t skipped a day since. He is now 61 years old.
He’s hit a few milestones over the 44 years of running: In 1970 he was named the NCAA individual cross country champion, and he helped his California State University, Fullerton cross country team grab a NCAA Division II title the following year. In 1972, Covert placed seventh at the U.S. Olympic marathon trials, according to CNN.
He is now a coach and teacher at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California, and logs 35 to 45 miles every week.
He tells CNN:
“I had no idea this was going to happen. The summer after I graduated, early in my freshman year of college, I realized I was in 100 days without missing one. I wondered if I could get a year in without missing. That became a little bit of a goal. That year turned to two, to three. At four or five years, I thought, this is a big deal.
I truly look forward to putting my shoes on every day. … It’s something that makes me feel better, something that in a lot of ways is therapeutic — not only physically but mentally. It’s something I enjoy.
His routine:
“I run in the morning. There’s no real set time, just earlier in the morning. I usually run between 50 to 60 minutes. Some days I go shorter, some days I run 80 minutes. I’m sure I don’t run as fast as I used to. I tell people the trees pass me by real slow now, but that’s OK. I’m still getting something out of it.
He likes to run on an empty stomach, but makes sure to refuel immediately after his run, and throughout the day. He explains:
“I eat nothing before I go run. I’m up for maybe half an hour, then go out the door. When I come back, I eat a regular breakfast — oatmeal one day, toast with peanut butter and jelly another day. As I’ve gotten older, you try to eat a little bit better and little bit wiser.
Lunch, usually an apple and some almonds. Dinner is chicken, fish, a salad, vegetables. One of the things I struggle with is my weight. As I’ve gotten older … my weight has kind of crept up. That’s a never-ending battle.”
But everyone has trouble getting up and out the door every once in a while, right? Not this guy! He says he’s never had a problem getting out of bed in the morning and running. He’s only had trouble twice, and it’s only because he had surgery the day before!
“Seven years ago I had surgery on my knee. The day after that was a challenge, but I was able to get out and get a mile in.
Fifteen months ago, I hurt my back. That was really a challenge because it was hard to walk, hard to bend over. I hurt it running and when I got back I went to the doctor and he was able to give me a little bit of relief. But the three or four days after that were really uncomfortable and painful.”
How he keeps going:
I’ve always thought that you have to become somewhat comfortable with being uncomfortable. When you’re working out, we all feel a little bit uncomfortable. And this might sound ridiculous, but I kind of like feeling uncomfortable — I think there’s great benefit from that, physically and psychologically.
That’s something, I think, in that last mile finishing up, you just have to wrap yourself up in that uncomfortable feeling and kind of go with it.
What an inspiration!
photo courtesy Mark Covert, CNN
