Amy Lu's View

I ran 1770 miles in 2024. 

Whoo-hoo?

I won’t humble brag–I am proud of this achievement. I think this is the most miles I have ever run in a year. But I also know this may not have been the best use of my time and effort. It took me slightly over 290 hours, which is approximately 1.72 weeks of my life, to run 1770 miles. I almost certainly passed the point of diminishing returns somewhere in there. 

In the world of running, “junk miles” refers to running that doesn’t help one get better as a runner or achieve any running goals. With that definition, most, if not all, of my 2024 miles were junk. 

Actually, I didn’t have any running goals for 2024, at least not any related to running a race. I didn’t run any race in 2024, except maybe the Women Run the Cities 10 Mile. I say “maybe” because I signed up to run it as a virtual (on my own) race, but I never actually ran 10 miles with the intent of it being for that race. 

I do find it interesting that I ran so many miles in 2024 without training for a race. I ran more miles last year than I did in 2018, when I trained for two marathons. I racked up these miles with many, many, short and mid-range runs but without any long runs–I only ran 10 miles 3 times. I never even ran a half marathon distance. So in some ways, this is an illustration of how little and consistent efforts add up. (It’s also an illustration of how lucky I am to have a flexible life and the ability to fit runs in at odd times, and a recognition that the weather and air quality was pretty conducive to outdoor running in 2024).  

Perhaps paradoxically, I may also have run more because I wasn’t training for any races and so didn’t consider rest days. Since I wasn’t worried about my running performance, I didn’t feel like I needed to factor in time and opportunity for my legs to recover so I could eventually run faster.

Ideally, as I think back on how many miles I ran in 2024, I’ll consider some questions of purpose and priorities. I’m fine with not improving as a runner or reaching any specific running goals, but is my running serving my overall physical and mental health? 

Maybe? Sometimes? 

I do some other exercise activities besides running, but certainly some more variety would do me good, both physically and mentally. Running is my go-to because it’s “easy”–I know how to do it, and I can usually do it (weather permitting) without too much planning. I feel like I get the biggest bang (in my case, calorie expenditure) for the buck with running. Of course, calorie expenditure isn’t the best reason for exercise, which brings me back to my purpose and priorities question. 

My running total for 2024 is likely a sign of some level of unhealthy obsessions, but I like to think it’s also a sign of my determination and perseverance. I’m not particularly motivated to make any significant changes to my approach to health in the near future (yes, I intellectually understand the value of  strength training and yoga and meditation and rest and recovery, etc.–no need to try and convince me) so I’m choosing to see the positive in my status quo. 

I know I’m extremely lucky to be able to rack up so many running miles–it demonstrates not only a flexible schedule and good weather (and a gym membership for when the weather doesn’t cooperate) but being healthy enough and injury free so I can keep running. I realize this probably won’t last–someday I’m going to have to change my running ways. But I’m not there yet. 

I think there are still plenty of unflattering after running selfies in store for me in 2025!