2012: A Year In Review

Summer Intro Trail Race - 6/16

Well, it's hard to know where to start exactly when reviewing 2012.  It was an interesting year to say the least.  There were lots of highs and lots of lows, new friends, constantly shifting goals, accomplishments and failures.  It seems almost irrelevant to go through the goals I laid out since I changed focus so many times through the year, but I'll do it any way.

1.  Sub-4 hour marathon - LOL, not even close!!  My best marathon in 2012 was Louisiana at 4:46:05, a good 10 minutes slower than my PR & 46:05 slower than this goal.  I don't know what even made me think I could do a sub-4 when I set that goal.  I may get there eventually, but that wasn't a very realistic goal for 2012.

2.  40 miles at Patriots' Run 9 hour 11 minute race - I didn't even run the Patriots' Run in 2012.  Other priorities that came up during the year, along with a change they made to the format of the event moved this race out of my plan entirely.

3.  Get 5 Marathon Maniac stars with 3 Ultras/Marathons in 3 states in 9 days - I didn't make this goal either.  I did get to 3 stars with 4 marathons/ultras in 5 weeks, but my plan for 5 stars fell through toward the middle of the year.

4.  Start trail running regularly - I did accomplish this one, mostly thanks to all of my amazing new friends from the Trail Nerds, Mud Babes & Trail Hawks.  I regularly ran at these groups' events; including Saturday long runs at Clinton Lake, the Thursday night BAR run & Mud Babes Mondays.  Of the 1,436.42 miles I ran in 2012, 859.66 (59.85%) were on trails.

5.  Strength/core/flexibility/balance training all year - Nothing to say here but FAIL.  I didn't do it.  I made excuses, avoided it, just flat out failed.

6.  Minimum of 1500 miles running total - SO close!  I would have made it, but some time off to recover in July & December brought me just short.  I did complete 1,436.42 miles, which is a new record for me, and left me at 95.76% of my goal.

Having some fun on our way down
to Baton Rouge for the Inaugural
Louisiana Marathon - 1/15

Okay, enough of the goals I didn't meet, I think I'd rather just tell the story of 2012.  Looking at how I did to my goals it looks like quite a failure of a year, but hardly so.  I accomplished quite a bit in 2012, now get ready to see LOTS of numbers (I am a business analyst, I can't help it).  Including the following races:

1. 1/15- Inaugural Louisiana Marathon (26.31 miles 4:46:05; 10:52 pace)
2. 3/3- Mrs. Robinson's Romp Trail 10k (6.0 miles 56:53; 9:20 pace)
3. 3/4- Pi Day River Rotation Trail 1/2 Marathon (13.5 miles 2:12:39; 9:50 pace)
4. 3/17- Run For The Bridges Trail Marathon (26.5 miles 6:42:47- DFL; 15:12 pace)
5. 4/21- Garmin Marathon (26.38 miles 5:03:46; 11:31 pace)
6. 4/28- Run wYLd 10k (6.2 miles 55:32- 2nd place age group; 8:57 pace)
7. 5/6- Lincoln Marathon (26.31 miles 4:59:33; 11:23 pace)
8. 6/16- Summer Intro Trail Race (2.8 miles 25:10; 8:59 pace)
9. 6/29- Rock The Night Away Trail 1/2 Marathon (night race; 13.1 miles 3:00:48; 13:48 pace)
10. 7/8- Shawnee Mission Triathlon Short Course (500 meter swim, 9 mile bike, 2.4 mile run; total time 1:25:54)
11. 7/14- Psycho Psummer Trail Race (22.5 miles 6:30:30; 17:21 pace)
12. 8/3- Psych Night Trail 10k (night race; 6.2 miles 1:24:00; 13:33 pace)
13. 8/26- Midwest Meltdown Triathlon Long Course (DNF during swim with asthma issue, but completed bike & run anyway; completed 150 meters of the swim, 20.52 mile bike, 5.18 mile run; total time 2:22:39)
14. 9/23- Apple To Capital Relay with team Mud Cakes (I completed 13.24 miles 2:05:10; 9:27 pace)
15. 10/13- Pumpkin Run 5k (3.12 miles 24:41- new PR; 7:54 pace)
16. 10/14- Mother Road 5k (3.11 miles 25:18- 1st place age group, 8:06 pace)
17. 10/20- Kansas City Marathon (26.36 miles 5:06:31; 11:38 pace)
18. 10/28- Inaugural GOATz Trail 50k (32.86 miles 7:36:42; 13:54 pace)
19. 11/4- Cliff Hanger 8k (5.03 miles 44:26- 2nd place age group; 8:50 pace)
20. 11/10- Pilgrim Pacer Marathon (26.7 miles 5:36:32; 12:36 pace)
21. 11/17- North Face Endurance Challenge 50k (31 miles 7:16:34; 14:05 pace)
22. 12/8- Alternate Chili Trail Race (10.68 miles 2:27:28; 13:48 pace)

So I guess I did a lot of racing in 2012!!  These total up to 335.46 miles (23.35% of my total mileage) in 70:00:29 for an overall avg pace of 12:31.  I set a new longest distance ever at the GOATz 50k since it was slightly long, set a new 5k PR at the Pumpkin Run 5k, got my first age group 1st place at the Mother Road 5k, age group 2nd places at Run wYLd 10k & Cliff Hanger 8k, and my first DFL at the Run For The Bridges Trail Marathon.

Me, Jen & Mel at the Pi Day River Rotation Trail
1/2 Marathon - 3/4

I ran in four different states this year, including my first marathons in Louisiana & Nebraska.  I ran most of my miles in Kansas (I do live here after all) with 1,253.88 miles (87.29% of total), 30.52 miles in Louisiana (2.12%), 66.35 miles in Missouri (4.62%) and 85.67 miles in Nebraska (5.96%).  I spent lots of miles with my running clubs this year, which really made running fun and gained me quite a few great new friends.  I ran 547.03 miles (38.08%) not with a club, 407.32 miles (28.36%) with the Trail Nerds, 209.12 miles (14.56%) with the Trail Hawks, 98.76 miles (6.88%) with the Mud Babes, 155.98 miles (10.86%) with the Olathe Running Club and 18.21 miles (1.27%) with the Sunday RUNday group.  Want some info that's really only interesting to me?  Here's how my miles break down by day of the week:

• Monday:  124.21 miles (8.65%)
• Tuesday:  25.68 miles (1.79%)
• Wednesday:  188.47 miles (13.12%)
• Thursday:  198.93 miles (13.85%)
• Friday:  52.55 miles (3.66%)
• Saturday:  572.16 miles (39.83%)
• Sunday:  274.42 miles (19.10%)

And here it is by month:

• January:  114.57 miles (7.98%)
• February:  148.85 miles (10.36%)
• March:  178.68 miles (12.44%)
• April:  98.74 miles (6.87%)
• May:  107.94 miles (7.51%)
• June:  204.48 miles (14.24%)
• July:  59.30 miles (4.13%)
• August:  112.84 miles (7.86%)
• September:  144.41 miles (10.05%)
• October:  108.91 miles (7.58%)
• November:  96.57 miles (6.72%)
• December:  61.13 miles (4.26%)

Katie & me after the Kansas City Marathon;
It was her first marathon & I got to run it
with her! - 10/20

I managed to start the year with four marathons in four months (Louisiana Marathon, Run For The Bridges Trail Marathon, Garmin Marathon & Lincoln Marathon), and finished the year with two 5ks, one 8k, two marathons and two 50ks in 6 weeks (Pumpkin Run 5k, Mother Road 5k, Kansas City Marathon, GOATz 50k, Cliff Hanger 8k, Pilgrim Pacer Marathon and North Face Endurance Challenge 50k).  I also got to pace my friend Donnie for the last 25 miles of his first 100 miler on the trails at Clinton Lake at the Hawk 100.  That was quite an experience!  To run close to a full marathon on a very tough trail just to help out a friend was pretty awesome.  He's struggled for quite some time attempting to accomplish that goal and I was proud to spend time with him during it and be there to see him finish it.  Yes, many great accomplishments for me in 2012.  I certainly increased my endurance over the year with all of the long runs, especially so many on the trails of Clinton Lake, Wyandotte County Lake and Shawnee Mission Park.  It seemed that almost every weekend I was running at least one run of a distance that could be considered a long run.  Luckily many of those were races and/or group runs with great friends.  I also completed my first triathlon and, in that process, began swimming on a regular basis.

Summer Intro Trail Race at WyCo Lake Park - 6/16

I did lose a lot of speed this year.  My overall average pace for the year was 12:20, which before this year I couldn't even imagine that being my average.  I attribute that to the amount of long runs I did, along with my lack of balance in my workouts.  I did almost no strength training or yoga, and my running was dominant over my very inconsistent cycling and swimming.  One of my goals for 2013 is to work to get my speed back and have more balance in my workouts.  I believe that will help not only my running, but also my overall conditioning.  I spent some of the year very disappointed in how unable to compete I was at many times and I spent some of the year very proud of how I was able to push my distances further and further throughout the year.  I guess there's some give & take, but I want to improve.  Overall, 2012 was an amazing year mostly due to all of the amazing friends I made and the times I spent with them.  Here's to a great year and to looking forward to another great year in 2013!!!!