Most people’s New Year’s resolutions come to a halt by February. But slowing down isn’t in Sam Ryan’s nature.
Since 2016, the WABC-TV sports anchor has set and completed an ambitious resolution: to run 1,000 miles every year.
“If you think about it, it’s less than 20 miles a week,” the 49-year-old mother of two from Long Island tells The Post.
Although “it was close” in 2018, Ryan met her mileage goals on Dec. 29 — and even went 6 miles over.
While this might not be realistic for a jogging newbie, Ryan, a self-described running addict, says she’s used to carving out space for the sport in her life. She’s run nine marathons, including one in 2018, and race prep typically requires running twice as far as her annual goal demands — 40 miles per week or more.
Even so, she says it’s still a struggle every year to stay consistent amid life’s many curveballs, from job changes to parenting hurdles to extreme weather.
“You just have to know that life happens, but you figure out a way to work around it and then you feel better about yourself,” says Ryan, who is also the ambassador for the New York Road Runners’ Team for Kids, which raises money for youth-fitness programs.
In 2018, she says, keeping her resolution was harder and “more of an accomplishment” than it was in 2016 and 2017, when she easily knocked the miles out by the start of December. This year brought a death in the family, as well as a major career shift: In October, she was promoted from a part-time freelance reporting role to her current full-time position at WABC.
“Sometimes I got home from work at 10 p.m. and had to get a mile in on the treadmill,” says Ryan.
She also had to give up one of her planned marathons so she could fulfill her “dream assignment” of reporting on the New York City Marathon in November.
But even without those extra race miles, Ryan made running a priority, squeezing in quick runs before or after work. When she was on the road for the station — for instance, in Orlando, Fla., for the American Kennel Club’s National Championship dog show — she made courses out of the unfamiliar streets.
“I basically ran from the hotel to the convention center and did loops around the convention center,” she says of her Orlando trip. “I got 4 miles in!”
With three successful New Year’s resolutions in the books, Ryan hopes her fellow goal-getters will focus on projects that are attainable and rewarding, the way running is for her.
“If you’re someone who can run a mile, set an attainable goal to run a 5K,” she says. “It keeps you healthy and motivated, and that [race] will hold you accountable.”
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