I just read a little from Runner's World (US Edition) magazine today and it was mentioned there about a certain man named Winston Churchill Howell, age 71, of Alabama, who has kept running streaks of 20 years of longer at six regional races - the longest being 39 years at the Billy Bowlegs Midnight 5-K.
So what is a running streak?
It is basically doing your running consistently and without missing a day or a race year.
There are people who have long running streaks for old Marathon Races like New York Marathon and Boston Marathon. As with the example above, it doesn't even have to be a long race to have a running streak.
Since road races in the Philippines is relatively new, there are only a few races that are constantly here yearly, most notable is that of the Milo Races. Milo Marathon is the oldest road race and it has various legs in the country before it all ends with one big race at the end of the year in Manila. Then, there are more recent races that have been here yearly and joined by a lot of people. Notable are Adidas King of the Road, New Balance, Run United Series and Condura races.
Unfortunately, a lot of the road races in the country are just one-time events and never repeated again. Then, there are some races that were there for a few years, then suddenly disappeared (Men's Health Trail Run, Men's Health Miracle Run, Greenfield Run, Mizuno, Brooks) and some races that were there almost every year (Nike, Yakult) but not consistently there.
With all these factors and limitations, it becomes harder to look for a running streak. But I am still curious, do I have a running streak and just didn't know about it?
Looking at my own records, the races below are those I joined almost every year. Keyword here is: Almost!
The first (and most obvious) one that I looked at were the Milo Events that I joined. As there are two chances to join it every year, the chances of a running streak is that much higher compared to the other, newer races:
Milo Races
August 2008 – Milo 10km
November 2008 – Milo Finals
10km
July 2009 – Milo Half Marathon
21km
October 2009 – Milo Half Marathon
21km
December 2011 – Milo Finals
21km
July 2012 – Milo
Eliminations 42km
December 2012 – Milo Finals
21km
July 2013 – Milo
Eliminations 42km
Argh! I missed one year (2010), then I remembered why! I got tired from joining Milo and decided to take a break from it. Who knew that a year later I would come back and eventually even do the full marathon distance!
Scratch Milo for a running streak. Let's see what else we have here:
New Balance Race
November 2008 – New Balance 25km
November 2009 – New Balance 25km
November 2011 – New Balance 25km
November 2012 – New Balance 25km
Darn, I missed a year again! What happened in 2010? Sheesh!!! Let's check out the ever popular Adidas King of the Road and Nike series:
Nike Race
August 2008 – Nike + Human Race 10km
2009 – no Nike Race
December 2010 – Nike 5km
October 2011 – Nike 10km
2012 – did not do
Adidas Run
October 2009 – Adidas 21km Run
October 2010 – Adidas King of the Road 21km Run
October 2011 – Adidas King of the Road 21km Run – Did not
start!
October 2012 – did not do as did Berlin Marathon!
July 2013 – Adidas King of the Road 16.8km Run
Condura Races
March 2008 – Condura 10km
March 2009 – Condura 21km
February 2010 – Condura 42km
Februrary 2011 – Condura 21km
February 2012 – did not do! Was in HK for Marathon
there!
February 2013 – Condura 42km
February 2013 – Condura 42km
So Close! But Condura stands as event I joined the most with five events. (Milo had eight but since it's two yearly events, it averages at two only). Still, no streak.
Rexona Races
August 2010 – Rexona 21km
July 2011 – Rexona 21km Adventure Run
September 2012 – Rexona 21km
Run United Leg 2
August 2011 – Run United 2 21km race
June 2012 – Run United 2 21km Race
June 2013 – Run United 2 32km race
So, it is Rexona and Run United Leg 2 (so weird!) that I currently have a running streak of three consistent races! I am signed up for Rexona 2013 this October so if I complete that race, then that would equal Condura as my longest running streak of 4 consistent races.
Not that great but everything else (with the exception of Run United Leg 2) seems far from it. I just hope Rexona will continue to put out yearly road races or that would be the end of my running streak from there too!
RUNNING FAT BOY CURRENT RUNNING STREAK: 3 RACES (Rexona tied with Run United 2)
RUNNING FAT BOY LONGEST RUNNING STREAK: 4 RACES (Condura, ending in 2011)
RUNNING FAT BOY RACE FREQUENCY RECORD: 5 RACES (Condura)
What about you? What is your running streak?
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