Antelope Valley coach Mark Covert ends 16,437-day running streak

“LANCASTER — It began in 1968 with a 15-mile run by Griffith Park and through the streets of nearby Burbank on a hot July afternoon that Mark Covert can remember like it was yesterday.
It ceremoniously concluded Tuesday with the final steps taken just outside Marauder Stadium on the Antelope Valley College campus surrounded by several friends, family members, student-athletes, coaches, former teammates and running enthusiasts from around the country.

Covert, 62, confirmed the end of his national-record streak of running at least one mile every day for 45 consecutive years by beginning his run at 7:03 a.m. and covering the required distance in a little more than 13 minutes, adding to a benchmark of consistency and longevity that ranks second in the world only to Great Britain’s Ron Hill, whose standard spans more than 48 years.
“It’s just remarkable that all of these people would come out here for this. There are a lot of people I haven’t seen in years and years, some as far back as high school. I’m really overwhelmed. It means a lot to me,” Covert said. “Anybody who saw this run knows this has got to end before I really get hurt. This was the right time.”
The streak spanned 16,437 days, according to the United States Running Streak Assn., and nearly 150,000 miles, with Covert surviving a broken foot, knee surgery, shoulder surgery, a kidney stone and a nagging back injury in order to continue his journey, although a midfoot collapse that will require reconstructive surgery in his right foot in the next year ultimately led him to reaching the decision.

It produced a legacy that connected his running career at Burbank High, Valley College, Cal State Fullerton and in the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials to his coaching tenure at Glendale Community College, L.A. Trade Tech College, Valley and since 1990 at AVC.” (via Daily News)

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