She decided to run a mile for every Eagles win. On Saturday, this New Jersey native will run 15.3 in hopes of a Birds victory.

Nikki Ryan admits that running isn’t exactly her favorite thing to do. But when the Central Jersey native was getting back into a neglected long-distance running habit this fall, she figured out one way to keep her motivation strong.

Run one mile in anticipation of an Eagles win every game-day morning.

“I was out for a run, and the Birds were playing well, so it was like ‘They’re going for 4-0 today, let me run four miles, that’ll help,” Ryan said. “And then, they did. Then it was five, then it was six.”

Fifty-nine touchdowns, 6,661 offensive yards, and 44 sacks into the season, the Eagles aren’t slowing down as they set their sights on Super Bowl LVII with a 14-3 record. Neither is Ryan.

Before the Birds seek to run down the New York Giants at home in the divisional round of the playoffs on Saturday night, Ryan’s lacing up for a run of her own — 15.3 miles, for what she hopes will be the team’s 15-3 record by the final whistle.

And yes, Ryan’s run a mile for every game added to the team’s record so far, even when the weather got rough or her schedule got busy as a psychologist for the Veterans Affairs health-care system in Baltimore.

“Some of my friends think I’m crazy,” Ryan said. On Christmas Eve, for example, Ryan was spending the holiday in South Carolina with her family, and the windchill outside was barely topping 7 degrees. Meanwhile, the Eagles were taking on the Dallas Cowboys. Despite protest from her family to stay on the treadmill, Ryan laced up her running shoes and went out into the frigid air.

And if a game falls on a Monday? Ryan still runs. In November, she hit the pavement after work to run nine miles in time for the Commanders-Eagles game, where Washington ultimately trounced the Birds.

“I’m not superstitious enough to believe that because I’m doing this, that’s why they’re winning — especially when they lost a couple of times,” Ryan said. “But the coolest thing about it is that it’s helped me to reconnect with a lot of people.”

» READ MORE: Will superstitious rituals help the Eagles beat the Giants? These fans say it can’t hurt.

Some drop supportive comments on her running Instagram for the season, @nikkirunsforthebirds. Others are other Philly-expats she’s connected with in Baltimore, where she’s lived for three years after spending 14 in the City of Brotherly Love. After a run, Ryan often drops by Magerk’s, a Charm City sports bar friendly to those sporting Kelly green (after stretching and icing, she added).

Still, most people won’t make the grueling treks with her — “I’ve asked,” Ryan said with a laugh.

Ryan credits her friend Emily Brooks, a Philly native, for getting her back into the habit after nearly a decade break from running half marathons. Around the time the Eagles kicked off their season, Brooks had Ryan come up from Baltimore to run a five-mile event.

After an eight-year hiatus, Ryan was running again.

“Nikki is Philadelphia through and through — it’s her home,” Brooks said “I think being in Baltimore is a little hard for her, especially during football season. Running ... keeps her feeling like she’s supporting her team, even though she’s further away.”

And as long as the Birds are on the field, Ryan said she has no plans to hang up her shoes.

She remembers the magic of the 2018 win, when she walked from Old City to to Fairmount and saw the crowds of cheering fans high-fiving and causing a ruckus, even if that meant a couple of dents in her car the next day.

“When we make it to the Super Bowl, that will be 17.3 miles that I’ll have to run that day,” Ryan said. “At this point, it’s like, what’s a few more miles?”