Year in Review

One would think that this sort of post would be towards the beginning of the new year, rather than, oh, halfway in, but oh well.

My running goal for 2007? 1,250 miles. Actual? 1,401 miles. I also ran two marathons, one hitting my goal (sub 4:00) and one not hitting my goal (again, 4:00 hours). The Frederick Marathon was sorta a knee-jerk reaction to not being ready for the National Marathon 4-6 weeks earlier. I took the opportunity to race hard in the National 1/2 Marathon and then putting in some long weekly long runs (up to 20 miles, twice, I think). Whatever I did, I think I did pretty well. I hit the sub-4:00 mark, which I am very proud of, on a nice sunny day in Frederick. The only thing that I remember (as well the winner, in a post race interview on local Frederick TV) was the high wind ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE COURSE. At times, it felt like the wind was in my face for miles (literally). We even joked about it on the course. All in all, Frederick was a nice, but small marathon. It's on my list for a repeat, possibly this year -- that is, assuming I get off my fanny and begin training for real.

My second marathon last year (and my fourth overall) was Richmond. I had high hopes for that one, and I thought I trained pretty well. However, the elements, combined with a not-quite-so-well-trained body, beat me up starting around mile 18. It had rained the night before, and was still a little damp at start time. I dressed for slightly warmer weather, and this is the only race (and probably one of my only runs) where I put my gloves back ON during the race (several times) rather than getting overheated. I hit the ever-loving wall around mile 18, and then I started getting cold again, with my right hand getting numb every once in a while. Needless to say, I worried less about my pace time and worried more about actually finishing. I walked several times, and tried to bust through the last mile (but didn't).

Richmond was a good marathon, as they really pulled out the stops for it. There were 'party zones' a couple times through the course where the locals partied while cheering us on. That was cool. The post-race food was good, after we found it (about 2 blocks away).

So, year in review... 1,400 miles, 2 marathons, not bad.

My goal for 2008? Actually reduced mileage (1,300 miles) but 4 races (I'm not saying how long the races should be). I'm reducing my mileage as at times, I felt I needed 'junk miles' rather than speed work, just to keep my miles up. This year, I need to do more tempo runs and maybe even (gasp) speed work. Hopefully reducing my overall mileage goal will help me keep those (smaller) goals of tempo runs and speed work.

Which races? candidates are: 1/2 National with my lovely wife, Frederick (maybe), Marine Corp (very much a maybe), Goblin Gallup 5k with Number 1 Son, Leesburg 20k (I broke my streak of 3 straight years last year and want to start it back up) and maybe a 10k somewhere. -- I really want the t-shirts... :-)