Is there a hobby you enjoy so much, you could do it every day for the next year? How about two years?
Well, a Niagara University professor has done the activity he loves for 33 years straight, except for a five week break for an injury in 2011.
Dr. Tim Osberg was 29 when he began his running streak. He runs at least two miles every single day. And he will keep the streak going no matter where he is, or the conditions outside.
“The weather I hate the most: November weather… November rain,” he said.
For five weeks in 2011, he was forced to put away the running sneakers, due to a hernia surgery. When that happened, his nearly 26-year running streak was over.
“It was an emotional ending for me,” he said. “But what I thought was, I would start a new one and just keep trying to run every day as long as I’m medically able.”
As soon as he was well enough, he was lacing up his sneakers again. In two weeks, he’ll hit seven years in that second streak he started after the surgery. In all, both streaks add up to about 33 years running.
He’s lived in WNY the entire time he’s been doing this running, and we all know our weather isn’t always conducive to the sport he loves.
“There was a blizzard one time that I had a challenge with,” he said. “Basically, I shoveled my driveway, and ran up and down the driveway.”
Another tough day on the streak was the day his son was born.
“We went to the hospital just before midnight and the labor took all the way up until past 7 p.m., so I thought for sure my streak was going to be put to an end,” he explained. “Luckily he was born at 7:08, and after a little while the doctors told me I had to get out anyway, so I went running in scrubs down Maple Avenue.”
Dr. Osberg says working out is easier with a streak because you’re not fighting to do the daily run, it’s just a given.
And he has no plans on stopping anytime soon.
“My goal is to try and tie my nearly 26 year streak,” he said. “So, I have to run, by my calculation, until I’m about 82 to try and do that, so we’ll see.”
