Turning the page

A quick look at the year that was, and the year to come.


2011 Successes

• Mileage goal: 1715 actual miles, my goal was1620 (50K/week)
• Improvement: That's 395 miles higher than the 1320 I ran in 2010 and my highest ever
• Goal Races: My only goal race was the Big Horn 50, my first 50 miler and my goal was simply to finish it.  I did that, and had the best day running ever.
• Other Races
• I set a 5K PB (24:20) in April.
• I was very happy with my Barr Trail Race, I felt I ran a great race that day and blew away my time expectations, and I took a big fall while composing a Haiku to Gryptonite Magic, which makes a great story, and a good picture.  

• 

  The cool looking 'egg' on my left forearm is not visible, but there's some nice dirt and blood on the legs.

• My first ever running streak, 68 days old on New Year's Eve.
• Less measurable, I had a ton of fun with my trail running friends from the Fort Collins Trail Runners.  Running on the Colorado Trail (the second-best run of the year), March Mileage Madness, Greyrock, Crozier Triple, "plain old ordinary" 30 milers with Alex and Mary, 24 Hours of Moab, 24 Hours of Towers, Marathons with Marie, all the December Shenanigans, the Pineridge Downhill Miles, the many, many social runs and associated cookouts/potlucks/beer drinking, taking over the Big Horn Lodge in Moab, the Towers Time Trials, sharing my Big Horn run with so many other FCTRs and many other fun runs I am forgetting to list.

2011 Less than successes:

• I missed my vertical gain goal by a lot.  I set out for 50 miles of vert and ended up with only 38.5 miles.  To be fair I really was unsure of what a reasonable goal was here as I had never tracked it before.
• Missing 4 Towers Time Trials (and the VBM).
• 2 months of not hitting 100+ miles running
• Letting my running drop off the face of the earth in September and October (the above mentioned 2 months).  One week in October my only run was a Towers Time Trial (and it sucked!).  15 mile weeks, oddly, aren't enough to maintain fitness.
• The loss of speed that accompanied the above lack of running. I lost 3 minutes off my 5K time between slacking (and the point right below here). 
• The lack of blog posts between August and November.  Coincidence?
• Gaining 15 pounds since Big Horn.
• No big races or running accomplishments in the fall and early winter (up until Chubby Cheeks).

2012 Goals

• Mileage goal - 10K a day or 2274.3 miles for the leap year
• Vertical gain - 50 miles again
• Towers Time Trials - Make them all
• 150 miles every month
• Have even more fun with my FCTR friends
• 366 Days of Streaking
• Lose 20-25 lbs
• Race Goals:
• Sub-4:00 in the Colorado Marathon
• Run another 50 mile race in the spring/early summer
• Fall 100 or another 50 or a 100K
• Pikes Peak Marathon
• Set new PBs in the 5K, 10K, and Half
• Mid-Pack kind of finish in at least one 50K
• Fun Runs:
• Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim
• Another overnight camping and Colorado Trail run
• Organize the 2nd Annual 24 Hours of Towers

The mileage goal is aggressive and I may have to revisit it mid-year, but I've averaged more than the 43.5 miles a week necessary for the past 8 weeks of the Streak so it should be doable.  One thing the Streak has provided is consistency (which surprised me, but I guess should have been obvious).  Without running any crazy big mileage (15,23,18,17,8 longest runs of the weeks in Dec) I managed to have my highest mileage month ever in December 2011.


I'm excited to continue Streaking.  I have found it great for me mentally and physically.  I have been surprised at how strong I've felt, rather than run down as I thought I'd be.  I've been surprised to see the miles add up consistently, and I've been surprised at how few times (once really) that I didn't want to go out.  Having a run on the docket helps me plan out every day, often before I get up.


I'm 2 days in to 2012, 20.2 miles down, 2254.3 to go.  I can't wait for the rest.