Why Not An Even 4 Miles?

The route that I run most often starts in front of my house, heads into 'downtown Eureka', runs down the main street in town, and then loops back along the same path to end where I started. It's almost exactly 3 miles but I sometimes add an extension up to a cul-de-sac and back at the beginning of the run. With the extension, the route is just under 4 miles long.

I've been running this course during the week and my Nike+ app posts my runs to Facebook and Twitter. My friend, Byron decided to comment on these less-than-4-mile runs with a little good-natured ribbing:

After Thursday's 3.88 Miles:

Byron: really...u couldn't go 4?

After today's 3.86 Miles:
Byron: do u need me to come down there and walk u in for the final 0.11m? let me know

My sarcastic response:
Brad: That's where the loop ends! If God intended me to run a full 4 miles, he would have made one of the streets longer. Plus, if I accidentally go past the 4-mile mark, I might be tempted to go ahead and run 5. Then where does it end? It's a slippery slope, Byron. A slippery slope.

The funny thing is, that missing 0.11 mile actually used to bother me. I like round numbers. I like distances and times to be neat and tidy. But even running the exact same course, I get slightly different reports on my GPS over time (like the 0.02M difference in the last two runs). So I've learned to ignore that OCD tendency to stress over a tenth of a mile. I just think of it as a 4-mile run. I figure it all balances out when I later run slightly over my mileage goal and then round down in my head.

Runners certainly don't round down.

Pic Source

Either way, it's a great example of how runners tend to obsess over the numbers!

Thursday
Goal For The Day: Easy Run.
Distance: 3.88 Miles.
Time: 30:01. 7:44 Avg. (7:34, 7:46, 7:42, 6:57*).
Route: Old Town Eureka Loop w/ Cul-de-Sac Ext.
Conditions: 45 degrees. 6:53AM.
Run Details On Garmin
Run Details On Nike+

Notes: I felt like I was running much faster than my actual pace. Checking my watch at the end was disappointing. Nike+ tidbit: 3.68M less and 0:05/M faster than the average of my last 7 runs.

Saturday
Goal For The Day: Easy Run.
Distance: 3.86 Miles.
Time: 29:17. 7:35 Avg. (7:36, 7:28, 7:41, 6:30*).
Route: Old Town Eureka Loop w/ Cul-de-Sac Ext.
Conditions: 47 degrees. 8:19AM.
Run Details On Garmin
Run Details On Nike+

Notes: Much warmer today. No Tights + No Gloves + No Hat = Instantly Feeling Faster. I even took the Christmas lights off of the house this afternoon in a short-sleeve t-shirt. A cold front comes in tonight and we're expecting sleet/snow. Good ol' Midwest weather!

Daily Miles: Thursday - 3.88 Miles. Saturday - 3.86 Miles.
2013 Totals:
  Run - 20.93 Miles.
  Bike - 0.00 Miles.
  Swim - 0.00 meters.