I'm Not In It For These Miles

My original plan was to run most of these marathons as part of already scheduled travel for meetings or events. Well, things have not stuck to the plan, which has provided great opportunities to see new places. The cost has been more time in airports and hotels, along with a significant reduction in Delta SkyMiles and Marriott Rewards Points.

While I have been the middle of this activity, I tend not to focus on the "totals." Since running my September marathon in Tupelo I have done no running for the rest of week. Instead of running I used the break between to develop an estimate of the travel involved in this endeavor.

After consultation with Mapquest, I have totaled up the travel mileage through my running of the Tupelo Marathon. You'll see I've listed things month-by-month. If I was more skilled with blogging tricks I would have created a fancy chart, that would change colors and contain all the latest graphics. But, I hardly know what I'm doing when I post a picture so the straightforward data will have to do. Admittedly, this is all a rough estimate rather than a precise travel analysis. Since I am pretty sure no one is going to check my math I'm sure it will work.

January

Drive to Mobile, Alabama and back = 510 total miles

February

It's only 12 miles from home to downtown Birmingham for the Mercedes Marathon = 24 miles

March

Birmingham to Tampa, but had to fly through Atlanta and drive home due to weather during the return trip = 1066 miles

April

Round Trip Birmingham to Atlanta, Atlanta to Boston = 2405 miles

NOTE: I did not make a round trip to Boston. Instead, the morning after finishing Boston I traveled to Pasadena for business meetings, but I have not counted anything more than the Boston travel mileage as a round trip.

May

Round trip Birmingham to Atlanta, Atlanta to Phoenix, Drive to Prescott and Back = 3342 miles

June

Round trip from Birmingham to Atlanta, Atlanta to San Francisco, Drive to Aptos Creek = 4826 miles

June

Round trip from Birmingham to Atlanta, Atlanta to Denver, Drive to Estes park = 2822 miles

July

Round trip from Birmingham to Atlanta, Atlanta to Seattle, Seattle to Missoula = 6050 miles

August

Orlando to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City to Atlanta, Atlanta to Birmingham = 4406 miles

September

Drive to Tupelo, Mississippi and back = 291 miles

Total miles of running through the Tupelo Marathon (my tenth marathon) = 262 miles

Total miles of travel to run those ten marathons = 25,742 miles

It's no wonder my times keep slowing down!