2012 In Review

2012 My Year In Review:

(Seashore 50k, dec)

This has been a successful year and yet a challenging one just the same.  I've been running at marathon plus level since 2000.  During this time I've been blessed to only have had one period where my body let me down, until 2012, that is.  Until this past June, my legs pretty much did whatever I asked them to do.  Run a marathon, they did it.  Run a 50k, okay lets knock it out.  A 24 hour run, no problems.  Run 66 miles of hills in a 30 day period...Huston we have a problem.  A case of Patellar tendinitis in my right knee, side tracked me for the better part of two months.

This two month interruption was tough to deal with, but slowly with the aide of a running knee strap my body healed itself in time to begin training preparations for my 7th marathon.

(Colonial 206.8 Mile Relay, Sept)

This year, I ran 15 races, most ever, my legs carried me to my 6th, 7th and 8th marathons...in which two of them where run within 15 days of one another.  I also asked my legs to run a 206 mile relay where my part covered 40+ miles over eight legs of the race.  Again, I asked my legs to run another 24 hour Ultra event.  This year they were able to propel me to a PB of 75 miles in 20.5 hours.  This year I also scored six PR/PBs (5k, 10k, 10 Miles, 24 Hour, 50k and monthly miles record of 178.95).  This year was also the first time I was able to put together back to back 1,000 mile years (1226 in 2011 and 1373 in 2012). It was a good racing and training year, except for that blip.

The years totals equaled 1373.1 miles which pushed my career miles (since 2000) to 10337.7.  I logged 169 running days averaging 8.1 miles.  10 out of 12 months I scored more then 100 miles and December was my best month, setting a new monthly miles PB of 178.95 miles.

(Wife and I at St. Charles 10 Miler, Apr)

Enough of the numbers:

My favorite running events:
1.  Running the Shamrock Marathon with my friend Susan who was running her first
2.  Running the 24 Hour Ultra with five of my friends
3.  The Monument Ave 10k, 40,000 runners and no issues
4.  Running the Marine Corp Marathon and the Freedom Marathon 15 days apart
5.  Running a number of events with my wife while she walked the event

(Marine Corp Marathon, Oct)

 My favorite running happenings:
1.  Connecting with fellow runners via social media on Twitter/Facebook
2.  Running with friends and making new friends during training runs
3.  Helping other runners reach their goals
4.  Having my wife accompany me on my long runs, we bought her a nice bike
5.  Being able to get back to a high level of fitness after my down time

(Susan and I at 24 Hour Run, Apr)

2012 was a good year, God blessed me any times over and I am thankful.  Whatever you achieved in 2012 or if you fell short, 2013 is a blank page,  You have 365 pages to write your story for the year.

Let's go run....