5,000 days of running: Local man closing in on major milestone

5,000 days of running A local runner is getting ready to cross a major finish line, running for 5,000 days in a row. Adam Cook has his story.

EDMONTON — What started out as a challenge has become a daily endeavour for a local runner who begins everyday the same way.

“I start the day running,” said Alex Muchortow.

The 64-year-old has been running 5 to 10 kilometres every single day for more than 13 years.

“This is 4,993,” said Muchortow on Friday. Exactly one week away from his goal of running 5,000 straight days. He hopes to cross the finish line April 24.

His mission actually began more than two decades ago.

“I ran into a friend who said he didn’t think I could run a hundred consecutive days in Edmonton because the weather is too bad and so that gave me the motivation, and it's been going ever since,” said Muchortow who doesn’t keep track of how many kilometres he’s run.

“It's got to be at least 25,000 kilometres for this stretch.”

This is actually Muchortow’s second crack at the 5,000-day mark.

His first attempt was stopped at seven years because of a freak accident with his pet.

“My dog ripped the tendon and the bone off my finger, so I was on the surgery table and asked the surgeon if I could run the next day and he said, ‘No you’ve got to wait six weeks, because if you fall you could damage it and we’ll never be able to repair your tendon.’ So, I can blame the dog for giving me a break. Otherwise, it would be over 20 years,” said Muchortow.

He has no special plans to celebrate the 5,000-day mark but is anxious to start a new streak.

“Ten-thousand is the next goal, so you can come back in 15 years and talk to me at 10,000.”