"Breakfast every morning is the same thing: a cup of applesauce, a peanut butter sandwich and a cheap cigar." That's what Mike Howell told me when I first met him 18 months ago.

On May 20 the Grand Haven resident reached a milestone. Since starting an unbroken string of running at least ten miles a day on Jan. 1, 2002, Howell has legged it 10,000 miles.

He has run nearly all those miles at the Downtown Grand Rapids YMCA, on an old wooden track that goes around the top of the second- floor gym. It takes more than 25 laps to complete a mile. Every morning, right around 5 a.m., Howell is there for his ten-mile run.

There was no hoopla at the YMCA May 20, just the usual early-risers. Most were bound for the fourth-floor Wellness Center or Cardio Room on the first floor. It was just Mike and me on the track. I wanted to run with him as he hit the 10,000-mile mark. He only had three miles to go, so I wouldn't have to do the full 250-plus laps.

"I'm a little bit hyperactive," admitted Howell. No Ritalin needed: he simply runs off his excess energy. Then he goes to work for Catholic Human Development Outreach, a job that often has him moving furniture and setting up apartments for political refugees. Sometimes he returns to the Y at noon, lifting weights to build upper-body strength.

Howell, who will get an AARP card in the mail soon, started out on New Year's Day 2002 to match the 4,000-mile year he had at age 27. He ended 2002 running 4,313 miles.

Last year, he slacked off and only ran 4,166. His average for 871 days is 11.5 miles per day.

Howell figures he's run about 68,000 miles in his lifetime. He has run far enough on the Y track to go more than one time around the world.

"Running is like charging a battery. It gives me the energy to get through the day," he said.

Howell plans to run the Grand Rapids Marathon on Halloween day, but until then will probably just keep his streak going.

Oh, and two months ago he gave up cigars. "I didn't think they were helping me," Howell said. MR