How Many Miles in Your Lifetime?

On Monday, I shared a lunchtime jog with another attorney in my firm, and we debated whether a human being has a "cap" on the number of running miles.  (Hey--It's better than talking about energy law.)  I have heard it argued many times that "a mile you run today is a mile you won't be able to run 30 years from now."  Knee cartilage wears out, bones get fragile, tendons lose their spring.  I've often wondered how many miles I have before my body gives up and I have to return to collecting old pennies for a hobby.  I feel like every year I pick up a new nagging pain -- right achilles tendon, the tarsals in my right foot, swollen big toes, etc.  At some point, will I give up?

But he pointed me to this website, 100K Lifetime Miles, which is an online gathering for runners who, as the name implies, have run 100,000 miles or more.  Think that sounds extreme?  One runner claims to have run 7,661.5 miles in one year -- when he was 53.  That's a daily average of almost 21 miles.  Daily.  For one year.  21 miles.

I was quite proud of the fact that I logged over 600 running miles for three consecutive years -- 2009, 2010 and 2011.  But some people on this website have gone over 20 years without missing a single day of running.  Insane.