Year End Review

First things first... as a bookend to my first run of the year, I did a trail run.  At the beginning of the year, it was sorta by accident, but with a very happy ending.  Today, it was intentional.  I ran on the Bull Run Regional Trail.  I ran 6 miles, at a slow pace (11:58) but I had to walk a lot of steep hills (when they put in steps in the trail, you know it's steep, plus there was actually a switch-back to go up one hill!).  In the past, I know I have gone faster, but since I'm still in an off-season, I figure I'm doing pretty well on trails.

Now, 2009:  In 2009, I ran 902 miles, so I met my goal that I set one week ago, but through a little investigation (on my own blog), I seemed to have missed my original goal of 1,100 miles (whoops!). Even so, I feel good about my year, particularly the past several months, as I've been able to keep running after my fall marathon. In 2008, I slacked off a lot in the fall into the winter, but this year, I kept my running up (now, the distances dropped off significantly after the race, but I still ran on average every other day).  Now, the downside of my training this year was the Spring.  I got injured while training for the Shamrock marathon this spring, so I pretty much stopped running, with a low of 4 runs in May.  Over the summer, I signed up for the Richmond Marathon, so that gave me the spark I needed to start running again (plus, I had some time to heal my injuries).

Here's graph of my running in 2009:

How have I done over the years?  Good question! Here's the answer:

Trending over the past couple of years:

2007 Goal: 1,300 miles.  Actual: 1,400 miles, 2 marathons (great year!)

2008 Goal: 1,300 miles, 4 Races.  Actual: 1,066 miles, 4 races

2009 Goal: 1,100 miles.  Actual: 900 miles, 2 races

Now, 2010:  Hmmm, good question.  Maybe 1,000 miles and 3 races?  I think that sounds safe :)

Errata:  In the fall, I discovered Wordle, which collects words you have (in this case, a blog) and prints them out by size in a graphic file:  Here's mine for 2009:

I thought it was interesting.  Here's the link so that you can create your own:  www.wordle.net, with, of course, the link to mine:  John's wordle.  

Let's hope for a great 2010, not only in running, but in all aspects of life!

Keep your run on.