looking back on 2008

2008 was my 4th year "back" to running (since high school cross country in '00), although it was the first year i really trained seriously (consistently), and that was only for the last 5 months of the year. it was a good year in which i found a groove (in the latter part of the year) and really started to enjoy running more.

mileage totals
2005 - 735.94 (starting march 14th)
2006 - 623.43 (did not log may thru september)
2007 - 1335.95
2008 - 1613.95 (plus whatever i log tomorrow)

i pr'd at every distance except the 10k this year (where i was just a few seconds shy of my current pr), and i finally, finally got my boston qualifier. what a high that was, especially since i had just added that race in as training for the goofy challenge. it definitely gave me a boost of confidence to think i can really continue whack some minutes off my marathon pr in '09 and '10. i survived the year with no injuries - a few aches and pains here and there, and a couple sinus infections, but nothing really forced me off the streets.

2008 in review

january - 108.97 miles, how far i have come since then! i joined the local running club and decided to go after a "club running series" award for my age group. i'd have to run in and place well at most of the local races throughout the year to earn points, and the top 3 people in each age group win something at the year-end banquet. i ran a 5k, pr'd (21:27) took 2nd place for my age group, and my longest run of the month was 8 whole miles.

february - 85.53 miles, umm. wow lindsay. no comment on that slackness. i ran a half-marathon (1:40:51) with friends, placing 1st in my age group and pr'ing by 3 seconds. longest run = 13.1 (the half race).

march - 64.66 miles, and i thought february was bad. ran a 10k, placed 2nd in my age group and just missed out on a pr (by 5 seconds). otherwise i apparently sat around on my bum all month. i did go visit a friend in st. kitts and did 0 running while i was there. this was also my fattest month of the year, of which i am now down 15 pounds since my fatty-march-weight. yay for running. longest run for march - 6.2 (the 10k race). i hang my head in shame.

april - 104.87 miles, that sounds a little better. no races, and most of these miles were on the treadmill at the gym. longest run was 10.17 miles ....on the treadmill.

may - 111.05 miles, improvement is always good. about half of the runs were on the treadmill at the gym, and otherwise nothing exciting comes to mind as i review my log. longest run - 10 miles, again on the treadmill. i must've been on crack these two months running that long on the tm.

june - 111.25 miles, wouldn't want to increase the mileage too much. i got my sweet bike complete with kickstand and bell to commute to work a few days a week, and i actually did 2-3 days/week. that motivation came fairly easily when gas was up around $4/gallon. (it's a commuter/hybrid bike as i have a budget to stick by so i'm not ashamed of my kickstand or bell.) anyway, i ran my first ever 8k for a guaranteed pr, taking 4th place in my age group. longest run was 9 miles, on the treadmill again.

july - 81.59 miles, a cutback month if you will, from all that intense running april-june. no races for july, but i did continue biking to work a few days. i had to take the last week off completely for patch testing at the dermatologist to try and figure out what the crap was making me itch all the time. spent a few hundred bucks only to not find out the root of the problem, but i did learn i am moderately allergic to nickel, it's just not what was making me itch all over. longest run = 7.44 miles at the beach.

august - 145.77 miles, hello olympics. august was the start of my motivation to run more and train seriously, mostly thanks to watching the olympics all month. i continued biking to work and began training for the goofy challenge (jan '09). i started blogging about my running and ran with a local high school cross country team on the weekends. oh and i spent some more money at the doctor to find out i am severely allergic to soy, nuts and beans. good to know. i became a proud owner of an epi pen. did you know that everything delicious contains soy? it's true. long run of the month at 12.4 miles.

september - 180.07 miles, also my birthday month! i'm trying to savor the remaining months until next september when i have to graduate to the 25-29 age group where the women run way too fast and take all the age group awards. i ran a 2 mile race where i pr'd by 1:10 and took 3rd place overall female! that was pretty sweet. i biked to work a few more times and got in a 21 mile ride with my dad (yes, on my dinky little bell & kickstand trek bike!). longest run was 11 miles.

october - 213.83 miles, quite a difference from march's efforts. i ran a true cross-country 5k and a half-marathon at times close to my current pr's. i wasn't supposed to race the half anyway. i traveled up north for my grandpa's funeral and my aunt's/cousin's bunny gave me a bad asthma attack, forcing me to run easy that week. longest run was 16 miles (2 of them even).

november - 210.80 miles, not too shabby. i bq'd!!! ran the atlanta marathon and pr'd by about 17 minutes. prior to that i ran my first-ever 20-mile training run, even though it was my 5th marathon. the concept of actually training for these things makes a huge difference. obviously my longest run for the month was 26.2 miles.

december - 200.64 miles, a decent end to the year. i ran a 20k with my old running buddy and definitely did not try to 'race' it. somehow i still ended up placing 3rd in my age group. i got in my final pre-goofy 20-miler, cutting off 18 minutes from the one i did in november. i took a few extra days off this month due to some 'family drama', and had a very special Christmas hanging out with the family. i've been so focused on running for the past few months, but it was easy to set it aside and spend time with the family without feeling guilty for missing a run (or two). longest run, 20 miles.

all in all, it was my most successful year of running yet, complete with race pr's, weekly mileage pr's, and a yearly mileage pr. i also truly enjoyed running everyday, especially after my motivation jumped through the roof from the olympics. i ended up taking first place for my age group in the local track club's "running series" competition that i set my eyes on back in january. i beat out 2nd place by 220 points - all the competition is in the 25-29 age group i'm telling you! since it was a fairly easy feat (i'm not bragging i promise, there just wasn't consistent competition) i'm not going to worry about repeating in '09. i have bigger goals to chase now!

hope you all have a fun, safe and happy new year!!