Strokes of random brilliance

Don't you love those moments when you feel like the world makes sense and you've got it all figured out? No, those moments don't often happen to me. But sometimes I do come up with some brilliant(?) thoughts worthy of sharing, or ponder the ways of the world to make running lots of miles more fun.

For example...

I know quality trumps quantity...or at least it should. Theoretically. So, I should make the miles I run count, not just run miles and count them. Clearly. But I do get a sense of joy from entering digits into that running log of mine and exercising some math skills in adding them up.

Does quantity convey a sense of accomplishment better than quality?
Or is it just more fun and tangible to measure things by the numbers?

While we're on this topic...I also have a thing for round numbers.
I'll never finish a run at, say, 9.67 miles - sorry [insert complaining body part] but you will just have to stick it out for another 0.33 miles. It has to really be debilitating pain to stop my round-numbered-mile conquest.
If I was doing the whole listening to my body thing, which I always tell other people to do...I would be content having run what I have and calling it a day.

Listening to one's own advice is obviously overrated.

And inevitably, numbers grow to define a runner. Say you just completed a marathon (yes, I actually consider 26.2 a round number of miles). You tell people, because obviously you're super proud. It won't be long until someone asks what your time was. Even if it's a non-runner with no appreciation for how long 26.2 miles can be. And all of a sudden, how fast you ran starts to define the experience...or maybe, at least on some level, it always has?

Running really breeds a love for numbers, doesn't it?!