Year 2 of Running Every Day: What Changed and What Didn’t

Persistence. The shameless refusal to quit.

I heard this definition about a year ago and it’s stuck with me ever since. I think it perfectly sums up not just running in general, but more specifically running every day.

Running every day is about a lot of things, but persistence is probably the most important to me.

How else can I explain running every day for the last 730 days (and counting)?

The question on any given day isn’t ‘am I going to run today?’; but instead – ‘what time am I going to run? and how far?’

Most days for me that is early in the morning. And usually the weather doesn’t matter.

Sometimes distance and pace matter, other times they don’t matter at all.

It’s not always pretty, but getting outside and moving for a little bit each day never seems like a bad idea.

All that matters is getting out for at least a mile but usually a few more than that – averaging about 5 miles a day during this running streak.

If the first year of streak 2.0 was about getting back in the routine of running every day and running a lot of races, then the second year has been about maintaining that routine/freedom of running and running less races if that meant enjoying it even more.

What Changed During Year 2:

Fewer Races

If you’ve been following along and/or read my last post, you might know that Year 2 of version 2.0 of my run streak started with the Marine Corps Marathon last October, followed by races in Philadelphia (November 2025), San Antonio (December 2025) and Las Vegas (February 2026).

But after the half marathon in Las Vegas, I realized that every race I ran in the last year included me not feeling great – usually something stomach-related. It has happened before but never this consistently. It started in Vegas for the half marathon last year (2025) and also for the DC half marathon in March of that year. And again at races in April, September, October, November and December. When it happened again at the beginning of this year in Vegas, it left me feeling frustrated.

And since it wasn’t happening much at all during my normal daily runs, it seemed most likely to be stress-related.

So, I decided to not run any more races for the rest of the year except for what I was already signed up for – the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October.

New Places

Instead of races, I needed to add something a little different to my daily neighborhood runs.

So, I decided to branch out and run in places I’ve never run before or not in a long time. That started in March going to my local Parkrun, continued in April running around my old college campus, and then into the summer by running in Washington DC several times.

Going to my local Parkrun for the first time in March added an optional (and free), casual and organized but slightly less competitive weekly run. I could push the pace if I wanted to or take it easy if that’s what I felt like.

Then, in April, when I had a work meeting near my old college campus, I took the chance to run around some of the places where I first started running for fun over 20 years ago. Even though it was only one run that lasted less than two hours, it was one of my favorite runs this year because of the memories that came up during and after it.

With my thoughts turning towards my marathon in October, I thought it would be fun to go to Washington DC a few times for longer runs around areas of the race route. And with Fridays off in the summer, I had the perfect opportunity. Several different times, I woke up early and drove the 30-40 minutes to DC. With the runs ranging from 8 to 16 miles, I logged some great miles on different sections of the race route in the hopes that they wouldn’t feel that difficult on race day.

Losing Weight/Eating Better

Running every day, and a good amount of miles in general, sometimes you think you can eat whatever you want. Having gained a few unwanted pounds over the last couple of years, I decided to focus a bit more on eating better and hopefully shedding a few pounds. And with no races to plan/train for, I could focus on easier running and counting calories.

Losing about 15 pounds over a few months seemed to help in a lot of ways, but (for purposes of this) it noticeably helped my running.

The tough part now is maintaining the weight and habits so that I can continue to feel the benefits in my running!

What Stayed the Same:

Morning runs

This is one thing that I don’t think I’ll ever change for as long as I’m able to run.

Ever since I started working from home during Covid, morning runs have been my standard runs. Of course, there are days I run at lunch or in the afternoon and those are nice too because I can maybe sleep a couple extra hours, wait out heavy rain or let ice/snow melt on a cold morning.

Some mornings are tougher than others to get out of bed early for a run. But I don’t think I’ve ever regretted going for a run, especially on a cool or cold morning.

Plus, there’s just something about getting the day started with a few miles!

Running on vacation

This has always been one of my favorite things to do. Even before I was running regularly (never mind every day), I always brought running shoes with me when I traveled. It’s a great way to see a new place or even some places you normally wouldn’t see on a normal travel day. Just like last year, I went to England in the summer and ran in some great places. The pictures below might help tell the story, but I’ll add to it.

Each time I’ve been to England the last few years, I have been determined to do more trail running. But each time I get there and don’t trust my navigation skills or my footing or I come up with some other reason, so the trail runs turn into a bit of running and a bit of hiking.

No matter how much I actually ran during my time in England in August/September, it was a great change of scenery as you can see from the pictures.

Listening to My Body

In a lot of ways running every day is about simplifying the thought process around running. It might seem like I don’t listen to my body, but when I’m feeling tired or anything like that I will definitely just run the minimum one mile to keep my streak alive. While those days might be few and far between, I definitely make adjustments when necessary.

I’ve been really fortunate to not have had any serious injuries from running that would really test how much I listen to my body. Hopefully, that stays the same over the next few days, months and years!

It’s crazy to think that this streak is now over one-third of the way to my last streak – 2,153 days that ended in October 2023 – but I’m just trying to enjoy each day as it goes by.

Throughout most of the year though, I have still had one eye on the marathon at the end of October. And so as Year 3 of this running streak begins, that’s where most of my focus is. Even though I’m not following a fully-structured training plan, I have still been making sure to get my speed sessions and long runs in regularly.

As race day has gotten closer (now just over a week away), my confidence has only increased and with that I’m hopeful for another great race day!

I’m planning to get another blog post out before the race on the 25th!

• Streak 2.0 Stats:
  • Year 1 Miles – 1,905
  • Year 2 Miles – 1,689
  • Total Miles – 3,594 (5,784 km)
  • Avg. per day – 4.92 miles (7.92 km)

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! And if you know anyone else who you think might enjoy reading it, please share it with them!