In the time I spent apologizing for being late last year, I could have run the Boston Marathon

A seven-second apology six times a day adds up.

So how long does it take to apologize? As part of my goal this year of being On Time, I’m gathering some data about how long things really take me to do. So last week, I counted how many times I was late to something and felt I needed to apologize. I counted on a few different days, and on average, I apologized 6 times a day for being late to something.

Next, I timed myself apologizing. There’s the quick “sorry! sorry! sorry!” — that one clocks in just over 3.5 seconds. And then there’s the apology you give when you think someone really wants to hear why you’re late: “Hi! Sorry, so sorry. I got stuck in traffic because you know kid carpool and anyway, I’m glad to see you! Sorry I’m late!” That one costs you (and the other person, btw) 7.9 seconds. There are even more egregious ones that include a text message apologizing for being late followed by another apology when you arrive, and if you’re feeling extra awful, one last apology at the end. Those take a good 35 seconds, but they are outliers, so we’ll let them go. So then, my average apology takes 6.8 seconds.

Over the course of a day, we’re only talking about 41 seconds. But in the course of the year, those 7-second apologies add up to 14,892 seconds. That’s 248.2 minutes. That’s 4.1 hours. That’s ridiculous.

This April, I’m running my very first Boston Marathon, and my goal is to run it in under 4 hours. Last year, I apologized for being late more than 2,000 times, clocking more than 4 hours of apologizing.

Can you imagine spending every moment of an interminable 26.2 mile marathon saying “Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!”?

It’s an incredible visualization for me of just how much time I’ve spent apologizing for the time I’m not there for a meeting or a lunch date. If nothing else, it steels my resolve to change this habit and stop apologizing. After all, I’ve got a marathon to run.