April A Look Back…

(Michele and I at Saint Charles Event) 

If you have been following my blog you know my goals for 2012 are as follows:

I WILL Run:

- three marathons

- 1500 miles this year

- a 20 miler once a month

- a 24 hour run with 75 miles

- a race at least once each month

- all of my scheduled training runs and not have more then two days off in a row without a really good reason (i.e. marathon or ultra recovery)

And the biggest goal, get my friend Susan C. thru her first marathon.

If you have not been following my blog, shame on you, but I forgive you.

So four months into the year let’s see how we are doing.

Run 3 marathons:  One down two to go…. With the Shamrock marathon behind me, my marathon focus will now shift to the fall, my second marathon of 2012 will be the Marine Corp Marathon on 28 Oct in our Nations capital.  And my third marathon will be Norfolk’s Freedom Marathon 11 Nov.  Can I run two marathons within 14 days?  This will be a real test for me, I plan to run the MCM as a long training run for two reasons:  #1 to conserve my legs for the Norfolk Marathon and #2 to enjoy and experience the MCM with the sights and sounds of running though our capital city.  I can’t wait…

Run 1500 Miles:  In April I ran 148.12 miles over 13 days, exceeding my goal for the month by 23 miles.  I originally wanted to push my monthly total to a new record with a chance at reaching 200 miles, BUT...my feet took a beating from the 24 Hour Ultra and to avoid long term injury, I took some time off towards the end of April.  To reach my yearly goal I need to average 125 miles per month, and four months into the year I have 541.78 in the bank.  I’m ahead of my target, so far so good.  April’s miles also carried me over the 9500 mark.

April’s runs included two races: I ran in the Saint Charles Running Festival (10 miler) setting a new personal record by nearly 6 minutes and the 24 Hour Ultra Marathon covering 75 miles (also a record) in 20 event hours/17.5 running hours.  To get my 20 Mile Run in the books, I began the Ultra with a 22.5 mile opening segment.  I did go more then two days in a row missing some time to recover from the Ultra (that’s a good reason in my books), but compared to how I came out of this event in 2009/2010 I fared much better.

I’m going to start new feature on my monthly look back, My favorite Blog Post:

April’s Favorite Blog Post Is:  8 tips for running when you don't feel like it

You can follow me on Twitter @cledawgs

I have a question…in tracking of my marathons, in the past I only counted 26.2 mile events.  But do you consider running an Ultra Marathon and event in excess of 26.2 miles in your marathon count?