Decade of dedication: Lethbridge woman ends impressive streak of running a mile each day

Lethbridge woman ran a mile a day for 10 years Nicki Van Eck ran a mile a day for a decade, but now she's calling it quits. Kaella Doty reports.

A Lethbridge woman ran at least a mile a day for a decade, but now she's calling it quits.

Nicki Van Eck, 34, began her run streak Dec.1, 2012, when Lethbridge's Runners Soul running supply store hosted a holiday run streak and encouraged their customers and run club members to participate.

The concept was simple; run a mile each day of the month for a chance at winning a prize.

"I won a pair of shoes the first day," said Van Eck. "I thought, 'Oh darn, now I have to run the whole month.' It was challenging, but on Jan. 1, I was like 'What’s one more day?' Jan. 2, 'What’s one more day?'"

Van Eck just kept running. Over 3,650 days, she ran a minimum of one mile each day to keep the streak alive. In 10 years, she logged 14,971.62 kilometers and ran for 1,762 hours and 43 minutes. She had to get creative at times.

"I’ve had to run in a parking lot at 11 at night after work," said Van Eck. " had to run with the flu at Christmas on a treadmill.

"I did have a small fracture in my foot I ran through and I had Lasik eye surgery so I actually had to have my brother run with me so I could see where I was going."

Runners Soul has a plaque dedicated to those who have run a mile a day for at least a year. Van Eck was the first name to be added to the 10-year plaque. She celebrated the milestone then decided to end her streak a few days later, saying it just felt like the right time.

"Ten years is such a great milestone. It was a very emotional decision when I stopped but I feel really good about the decision."

As for whether she'll streak again?

"I don’t think I’ll do anything as long as 10 years again," said Van Eck, "but I'm sure next December I’ll be joining the run streak challenge with Runners Soul."