2013, the year in review

2013, the year in review ... where to begin?

My right Achilles that I aggravated during a run way back on July 29th, 2012 gradually healed. Yes, I tried rehab with little success. I even tried no running for two weeks twice. Eventually, I just ran anyway ... just slower and not as long. I stretched it out before every run for most of the year. I just stopped thinking about it around July ... about a year later.

Yes, I have a black toenail like almost every runner!

Well, let's have the stats. I ran 1310.6 miles this year, 225 runs in 365 days, 5.8 miles/run. The breakdown by month: January - 108.3, Feburary - 107.4, March - 140.0, April - 65.2, May - 91.2, June - 103.4, July - 81.7, August - 154.0, September - 134.3, October - 101.2, November - 116.7 and December - 107.2, 9 out of 12 months over 100 miles. The most miles was August when I was training for the Rochester Marathon in September. Wow ... 1310.6 miles ... my most running miles during a year ever.  Some of these runs were warmup runs before or cooldown runs after races. My handy dandy running spreadsheet shows that I have run 7969.7 miles, 1307 runs in 2665 days, 6.1 miles/run since September 14th, 2006 when I started it.

I ran 51 races this year with 354.4 racing miles. So 27% of my running miles this year were during races. The breakdown of my races was 26 street (11 5Ks, 1 5M, 5 10Ks, 1 6.42M, 1 12K, 1 7.5M, 2 15Ks, 1 20K , 2 Halfs, 1 Full) and 25 trail (longest was 50K). Why so many races? I like to get out there and compete ... pure and simple. My race spreadsheet shows that I have run 247 races since my first race on Thanksgiving 2005 in Newark NY, the Newark Turkey Day 5 Mile race.

My running highlights this year were running in my first Boilermaker in July, running my second Rochester Marathon in September and running my first ultramarathon in November. The Boilermaker was my first race with thousands and thousands of runners. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep the night before. The Rochester Marathon was my first marathon since the hot and humid Rochester in 2008. I hit my goal of running under 4 hours (3:51:59). My first ultramarathon was the Mendon Ponds Trail Run 50K. The fickle November weather produced a light rain that became a downpour during the race. I continued onward and finished in 6:34:37. Some other highlights were running my fastest 5K of 2013, a 20:44 in the Photofinish 5K (31 seconds off my lifetime PR in 2012) and my fastest 12K ever, a 59:23 in the Summerfest 12K.

All in all, 2013 was a great running year! Yes, I'm 56 ... but my legs still feel young and are raring to go!

What's in store for 2014? Well ... I really should cross train. I know I have said and typed this before but I really should drag my ass out to LA Fitness and do something else to build my core. Yes ... there will be more races in 2014, it's how I roll.