It is not really anything on the other side of this number, once tapped. Every running milestone I’ve touched in my (almost) ten years counting felt roughly the same. As in real life, as Schopenhauer would say, “happiness is always less than we expect, while pain is always more”. Leaving aside the philosophic side of the fact, I can’t say running past 30000 kilometers feels really different. It was just another benchmark, that is left behind. Truth being said, it was established in a day of a very good training session, perhaps the best in recent months, and for sure top in 2026, under a very pleasant snowing pattern, some mild sun, and also -10°C. All the ingredients of a perfect winter day, but maybe from 20 years ago, when winters looked and felt different, not only because the times, but definitely because of my age.
30000 kilometers
Transposing those times in 2026, and colliding with the present of my 30000 running kilometer, this winds an unique picture. With no future, as said, but with a lot of present, and with some more lessons to be considered. I have realized that running itself, when I’m writing about milestones, is not that rewarding, since I’ve ran for 268 days in a row, in 2020. Then, 5,000 kilometers the same year. After my first 10k under 40 minutes, while preparing for another marathon, one in Valencia, where a wonderful 3:13 PB was touched. But everything dissipated as it came, the moment was the most important, but it passes at a blink of an eye. Because the immediate seconds, the ones which count the most, are always dedicated to catching breath, clearing thoughts, and so on. Then, actually, you can’t really enjoy this moment at its fullest. Going, again, back to Schopenhauer.
Running and life
It is OK, tho. The most important part of running is that it thought me how a simulation of life works. When running, at different intensities, different speeds, or on different distances, you can project moments of life, and better understand how to deal with them. Or deal with most of them, at least. At a different scale, of course, but following similar principles. This is not destined to draw complex comparisons between life and running, but a thin parallel between them. Just to celebrate, in a different way the already past moment, highlighting, at the same time, that running goals, should not revolve necessary around real important maters of life. Running, without being a career, should – at least for me – remain a hobby and a custom to clear mind and to maintain a decent healthy rhythm.
Final thoughts for my 30000 kilometers
Bottom line: it my third 10000 kilometers, which before touching seems like a lifetime achievement. It never is, just a moment in time, of course. The same as seeing Tour Eiffel three times, and enjoying an abbey beer at its bottom. Or like meeting Zorro, the cheetah (big) cub near Cape Town. Life is made out of moments, and running 30000 kilometers, or a sub 40 minutes 10K, or a under three hours marathon – which I didn’t do, tho – are some of them. Running should always be included in life, not the other way around, as many more other things are much more important, and there is no need to develop this subject here, because everybody knows that deep inside, at least when nobody is watching.
