Run streak running sounds simple when you describe it. You run every day. What the description leaves out is that the weather does not care about your streak.

Today is day 2086. Yesterday gave me the coldest run of the whole streak, and it made me look back at the most extreme runs I have done so far.

I am in Andorra, at about 2,000 metres above sea level. Yesterday it was minus 16 degrees with a snow blizzard. I have never seen anything like it. The wind, the cold and the snow hit my face so hard that I could not run in one direction at all. Before long my body went numb. I finished the run, but it was the hardest conditions I have faced on a daily run.

The opposite end of the scale was 47 degrees centigrade, in vest and shorts. I would wipe my brow and be sweating again before my hand came away. Put the two runs side by side and the gap is 63 degrees. I did both on the same streak, and the streak did not change for either.

The wettest run was in Singapore during monsoon season. The rain was torrential, the air was hot and humid, and I ran through ankle-deep water on the pavements and roads. It felt like running through a hot power shower. It is still one of my favourite runs of all time.

The windiest was on the Greek island of Mykonos, known as the windy island. Running downhill should be easy. With a headwind it held me almost still on the slope. Running steeply uphill with a tailwind, I felt like I was floating up the hill. Same island, same day, and the wind decided everything.

The hilliest was in a town on the Atlantic coast of Spain. The whole town is built on a hill and nothing is flat. I ran 7.2 kilometres and climbed 385 metres. That is more than double the elevation gain of the Edinburgh and Manchester marathons I ran that year, in about a sixth of the distance.

One more, for the eerie category. I was running across the moors at Burnley and crossed what looked like a muddy field. It was a deep, slushy bog, and I sank to the waist. I pulled myself out. I treat it as a reminder that the unknown is part of running outside.

What I take from all of this

First, conditions decide how I run, never whether I run. Minus 16 and 47 degrees are different runs, with different clothing, pace and expectations. The decision to go out is the same in both. That is the value of a daily rule. I do not spend energy debating it on the day.

Second, variety is what keeps a long streak interesting. If you are thinking about starting a run streak, or you are part way through one, running outside and travelling will put you in places and weather you would never choose. I have found that this is a large part of why I still look forward to the next run after more than five and a half years. I would not swap it. A treadmill would wear me down far faster than any blizzard.

Third, perspective. A hard run is temporary. Yesterday's blizzard lasted one run. Tomorrow I will be somewhere else, in different weather, and the streak will go on.

Why this matters beyond me

I run every day, barefoot style, as part of a mission to cover 40,075km, the distance of a lap of the world, and to raise £1M for children's causes. At 16,078.47km I have just over 40% done, with 23,996.53km still to run. A mission of that length does not survive on good weather. It survives on showing up in the conditions I would not pick.

I film these runs and share them because the more people who see the mission, the more support it can attract for children's causes. The streak is the discipline. The vlog is how it reaches people.

I do not know what the next 2086 days will hold. Based on the first 2086, I expect more cold, more heat, more hills and probably more mud.

If you run, or you are thinking about starting a streak, tell me the most extreme conditions you have run in. I read the comments and reply to the relevant ones. If you want to follow the mission, subscribe to the vlog and share an episode with someone who might want to see it.

Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/oPYQrOomi6M