What 2,000 Consecutive Days of Running Taught Me

And an even more helpful way to build a streak.

I recently accomplished a personal milestone: 2,000 consecutive days of running an average of 5-7 miles a day. 

Technically, the achievement is 2,000 days in a row of closing the activity rings on my Apple Watch, but that doesn’t sound as good. 

So … that’s great! But it’s not what this post is about, because I know that hearing about someone else’s milestone isn’t always that helpful. Sometimes it can even make you feel bad. 

This might just be me, but I sometimes feel envious of other people’s success stories, even though I don’t want to. Or I feel bad that I haven’t been as committed to a habit or goal as they have—which I realize is also problematic.

So here’s something that’s even more helpful than saying “Build a streak.” In fact, it’s a better way to think about most habits and goals. 

The Better Rule: Never Skip Two Days in a Row

Instead of building a non-stop, no-exceptions streak, set a rule where you don’t allow yourself to miss twice in a row. That’s it! If you miss one day or one block (whatever it is), no problem—but try not to miss two in a row. 

To go back to one of my favorite Gretchen-isms: what we do every day is more important than what we do once in a while. 

I’ve thought about that a lot over the past 5.479 years that I’ve had the running streak. For me, the rule of no exceptions has been good for my running streak. Most of the time, it’s not even that hard.¹

But I don’t think it would be realistic to apply this rule all the time. For example, I’m not nearly as consistent with other workouts as I am with running. I do strength training at least twice a week, and yoga at least once—but I’m not always rigorous with either. Still, when I miss a session, I try not to miss two in a row. 

Similarly, I eat healthy most meals and days, but there are lots of exceptions. I just try to not repeat the exceptions. Pizza one night? Totally fine! I love pizza. But then I try to go back to tofu and grain bowls the next day. 

Like I said, the never-miss-two rule is probably even better than building a nonstop, never-miss chain of events. When you break a perfect streak, you feel discouraged and might not want to start over. The other way of thinking of it—just pick it right back up if you stop—is potentially much more useful. 

The grammar isn’t perfect, but you could also think of it as “Don’t stay stopped.” 

Shake it off and get back up! Don’t miss two in a row.

Have you ever had a long streak? What was it, and what did you learn from it? 

P.S. I didn’t end the streak with 2,000 days last week. Right now I’m on day 2,009 and there’s no real goal attached to it—I just don’t see any reason to stop, so I’ll keep it going for the foreseeable future. 

P.P.S. Rachelle Fordyce, an Instagram friend of mine, is also approaching day 2,000! Aside from fellow author David Sedaris, who seems to be just as compulsive as Rachelle and me, she’s the only other person I know who’s been doing this as long. (But if you know someone else, feel free to mention them in the comments.) 

1. Difficult days over the past few years have included: the day after running a marathon, the days after getting vaccinated and boosted, travel days when I leave early in the morning and don’t get out of an airport until late at night, and twice when I was sick with COVID.