Running 45,000 miles, a milestone worthy of celebration
Ben with his mom and dad and Joshua and Molly.
We pass them by every day on the roads that we travel without much thought or recognition. Little green signs, with white numbers marking the distance in miles from a starting point, blend into the scenery beside the road. These mile marker signs are part of a long history that stretches back to the first constructed roads. There still stands today beside the roads that the Romans constructed stone markers with engraved numbers indicating the distance from Rome. These stones are called milestones. With this long history, the word "milestone" has found a place in our lexicon, not only referring to an object that indicates the distance from a specific point but also to a moment in time that has significance or distinction.
This past weekend I traveled to Columbus, GA, to celebrate a milestone with my dad, who is also named Ben Smith. On Friday, September 1, 1978, my dad started running. From the start, he recorded his running miles and eventually would add them to an Excel file to keep track of his total distance. I was a little boy when he started running, so I do not remember a time when he was not a runner. I do remember hearing him mention different goals that he was striving to reach. In the early 1980’s he was training to qualify and then run the Boston Marathon. Years later, as his total distance of running approached the distance in miles equal to the distance around the Earth at the equator (24,901 miles), he regularly made announcements as to how close he was getting. When he reached this milestone, he was running with some of his longtime running partners. They stopped and used a disposable camera to capture the moment, then continued their run.
This past Saturday, dad reached another milestone when he ran his 45,000th mile. To mark the occasion, dad paced his runs so that he would be just one mile short of the goal by Saturday so that family and friends could gather and join him for the final mile. This past Saturday, we gathered at the Hughston Clinic in Columbus and circled the track for the 45,000th mile. It was a great moment.
Dad along with Molly, Bull, and me running the final lap of the 45,000th mile
Most of the reactions to this milestone have fallen into one of two categories. Some are simply dumbfounded by the number of miles he has run. To put it in perspective, 45,000 miles is:
Over 1.8 times around the Earth at the equator
Over 18.5 times the distance between Savannah, GA and Los Angeles, CA
Nearly 20% of the distance between the Earth and the moon
The other reaction to this milestone is the astonishment that dad is still running at age 76. One of the joys of using Excel to calculate such things as the number of miles run is that you can also calculate any number of other interesting statistics. Here are some interesting ones that dad has now accomplished:
He has run for 411,307.44 minutes or 6,854.57 hours or 285.6 24-hour days
He has spent 1.81% of his life running
Over the years dad has enjoyed the friendships and camaraderie of his running partners. At age 76, most of his running partners are physically no longer able to run, leaving him these days to run alone. I have asked him how he has been able to keep running while so many others have had to quit. His humble reply is simply that by God’s grace he has been blessed with good genetics. This certainly answers the question of how he is able to still be running at age 76, but it does not explain how he has been able to amass so many miles over the years. The answer to this question is found in something more fundamental to his character.
Dad with the family and friends who joined him for his 45,000th mile
In the early years when dad was just starting to run, he was focused on training for marathons. He ran his first marathon at Callaway Gardens in 1980 and by 1985 would have completed ten more, including the Boston Marathon. The training regimen during those years required a lot of miles both in daily runs and his long runs on Saturdays. Even though he was logging a lot of miles each week in those early years, it has now been 36 years since his marathon days and thus, the high volume of his early days, though impressive, cannot explain the mind-boggling accomplishment of his current total miles.
To understand how dad reached this milestone requires you to understand how my dad has lived his life. In every area of his life, dad has proven to be faithful and steady. In his work, family, service to his church, and even his hobbies, dad has been consistent and true. His consistency and faithfulness have not been just for short seasons but have been proven over the course of his life. For the last 43 years, my dad has risen every weekday morning, early enough to get a run in and still have time to read his Bible and spend some time in prayer before getting ready for his day. On both cold days and hot days, on rainy days and windy days, he kept to his regular schedule of rising at 4:30 am to start his day with a run. This consistency in his approach to running is representative of how he has approached every area of his life. A look at any single moment or event may not seem significant or spectacular, but when seen in total, his faithfulness in everyday consistency has produced a total that indeed is astounding.
Dad with the family and friends who joined him for his 45,000th mile
Being consistent and true is not often celebrated these days. More often, what captures attention is the novel and new. From diet fads to workout programs, there seems to be something new every few years that promises to be the best thing ever. Yet over the past four decades, early each morning, pounding the pavement was my dad, undistracted by what was the new thing, currently being celebrated. Day after day and year after year, he consistently logged new miles every morning. Though in my youth, I did not always understand the value of it, I have come to treasure both the witness and blessing of my dad’s faithfulness. At times we have teased dad about being too predictable. He drove the same route to work every day. He left home and arrived home at the same time every day. He enjoyed the familiarity and rhythm of routine, and we often would playfully mock him for it. What was hard to recognize then was that in the unspectacular keeping of routine he was gaining the spectacular wealth that only comes through consistent labor. While growing up, I assumed it was normal to have a dad that could be counted on in the home, at work, and in church. As an adult, I have discovered that such faithfulness is rare indeed. The milestone of his 45,000th mile is not only celebrated because of his athletic achievement, though his record is impressive, we also celebrate it because it points to a life that has been spent faithfully and consistently pursuing goals. With the same consistency that he devoted to running, he equally devoted himself to being a good father, a husband, a follower of Jesus. Many little boys say that when they grow up, they want to be just like their dad. I certainly said the same as a boy, but even now, as a grown man, a father, a husband, and a runner myself, I still want to be just like my dad.
And just in case you are wondering what is next. Dad is averaging about 500 miles a year, and according to his Excel calculations, he should be closing in on 46,000 miles sometime around November 2023. When he does, we will gather again to celebrate that milestone as well.
Last week, the Southern Baptist Convention held its Annual Meeting. Gathering in New Orleans, LA, there were nearly 19,000 in attendance. Of these, 12,737 were registered messengers (messengers are similar to delegates) from 4,423 churches. During the two days of meetings, the messengers worked through a packed schedule that included changes to the doctrinal statement of the Convention and a constitutional amendment, among many other things. Southern Baptists are unique in that we have our debates over critical issues in public with the opportunity of any registered messengers to speak. This does not always make for flattering soundbites in the news and sometimes leads outside observers to think that we are contentious and in constant conflict. For those who attend the meetings and participate in the decisions, even in greatly debated issues, we generally depart the annual meeting more encouraged in the work and cooperation of the SBC. Below are some of the more significant decisions of the messengers to this year’s annual meeting.