There was no finish line at mile 24,000. No tape to break, no crowd, no medal. Just a number on my **Strava account that had been 23,999.
That's the thing nobody tells you about distances this long: they don't end. They just keep going until you decide to look back and add it up.
All of us are chasing finish lines. The promotion. The quarter. The launch. The exit.
And finish lines are useful because they help focus effort. But they also are a bit deceiving because the day after you cross one, you're just standing there, and the work keeps going anyway.
Sales guys sometimes know this best. The end of the year just brings a reset, and January 2nd the number is zero.
I didn't ride around the Earth. I rode 11 miles most days for six years, and one day the math said "Earth." The distance was never the goal. The habit was the goal. The daily goal was the grind.
Just this morning the alarm went off at 5am and after some reading & really good Sodality Coffee was out the door in the brisk Denver air. The sun rose at 6:21a I was fortunate to see it.
The distance was just what happens when a habit doesn't quit. I quit a lot of things in my life.
If you're leading a team right now, stop looking for the finish line. Start counting the miles instead. Ask what your 11-mile day looks like — the small, boring, repeatable unit of effort that doesn't feel like progress on a Tuesday but is, in fact, the entire mechanism.
Six years from now, someone will do your math for you.
Make sure the number is one you're proud of (and make sure you hit record on Strava ;) ).
** For the record, many people have ridden far more than 24,000 miles on Strava. Also, a trip around the world I think, is 24,800-ish miles, but who’s counting ;)