Year in Review: Running in 2012

At the beginning of the year I set two goals related to running. One was to run 800 miles in 2012 and the other was to get faster. In particular, I wanted to set PRs in the half-marathon and in the 10K department. Unfortunately, I have not come anywhere close to meeting these goals.

As of this morning, I've only run 542 miles this year -- though I'm hoping to close out the year with another 20 miles or so logged. In terms of getting faster? I can't really make any substantial claims there either. I came nowhere near a half-marathon PR -- in fact my fastest half marathon time this year was still more than 15 minutes slower than my PR. Unpacking my performance at these half-marathons is something of a mixed bag. For one race, I'm pretty sure that the timing of my oral surgery and the end of a term was the reason I performed so poorly. The other two, though, I have no excuse other than not training hard enough for these races and not pushing myself hard enough on race day. I did a little bit better at the one 10K that I had the opportunity to run, but did not set a PR in that category either. However, according to my stats on daily mile, three of my five fastest runs this year were in late October and November, so maybe there's hope for me yet.

In spite of the fact that this was not my strongest running year, there were some high points. I ran a 5K, a 10K, and three half-marathons. My best race experience was the one 10K that I ran this year. It was on a cold morning and I had to give myself a pep talk to get out the door since it was snowing when I woke up on race morning. Although I didn't PR, I ran consistent splits and felt like I was giving a hard effort the entire time. My best training run was a rainy 6 miler in Central Park back in August. After a summer of low mileage, it was my first long run to kick off training for the Zombie half-marathon I ran in October. I just felt in the zone, and there's nothing like tackling those hills in that park in the rain to make you feel bad ass. I ran races this year in Minneapolis, Columbus, New York, and Anchorage. I did a fair amount of running while traveling this year. I ran along the lakefront in Chicago, along rivers and in parks in Madrid and New York and Cincinnati, in a peaceful cemetery in Toronto, and caught up with a dear friend while running in Boston. I trained in my neighborhoods and on trails in Minnesota and Alaska. The last long run I went on in Minnesota was with the first running friend that I made there. I was able to see a friend cross the finish line of her first half marathon. Not everything is quantifiable.

Right now I only have one race on my schedule for 2013, but I have a feeling that it will be full of many runs and that I will probably be penciling in another race or two before long. Did you have a mileage goal in 2012? How did you do with it? What was your favorite race or run of this past year?