I shared this plan on social media so my friends could hold me accountable. Should I fail, I’d lose one thousand dollars, and my friends and family would decide where it goes. I get it—one mile isn’t a lot, but that was intentional. This wasn’t about the distance or the run. The mile was the easy part (it typically took me eight to 12 minutes), and carving out 15 minutes a day for health seemed like a win-win to me. The hard part, I felt, was to stay consistent every day of the year, no matter what was going on in my life. Over the course of the year, I had to put in time to my commitment at all sort of hours of the day. I ran in cold temperatures (teens and 20s), in extreme heat (101 degrees and 95 percent humidity). The goal took me places I never thought to run before. I once ran in circles in parking garages at least 18 times. I once paid for a one-month membership at a gym in Atlanta while traveling for business. I was only there three days, but the hotel gym was being remodeled, and it was the only option I had in cold, rainy Atlanta. I once ran in jeans. Why? Because I was ready to do my run and that’s all I had on me. In October, I actually ran in the JFK airport in New York City. The TSA staff looked at me with indifference as I passed them for the fifth time in ten minutes. All these challenges didn’t come without amazing gifts attached. I was able to run in some of the most beautiful places and cities on Earth. The streets of New York City, San Francisco, Nashville, Miami, Paris, Bordeaux, Tokyo, Kyoto, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Reykjavik among others. I’ll admit, sometimes committing was hard. Some days I was tired, maybe I met a friend for drinks and now I don’t feel like it, I had a cold, I have work, and all that nonsense. But as I told myself in the beginning, either commit or don’t—and I was committing. I completed my 365 day commitment on January 1, 2016 with a 5K run on the beach at Kiawah Island (just outside of Charleston, South Carolina). My family was there with me, and my wife ran one mile of the 5K with me. My wife supported me the entire time, always giving me the freedom to reach my goal, even if that meant more work for her. This small commitment to run a mile a day had a dramatic impact on all the peripheral details of my entire life. It has make me keenly aware of commitment (or lack thereof) in myself and others. Needless to say, in the new year I made even more commitments. I challenge you do to the same, and try to stick with it every day.
