To be honest, I thought it was a pretty doozy of a year for running. I didn’t set any new PRs (which hasn’t happened in a long time), I didn’t win any races, I didn’t log as many miles as I had hoped, I still didn’t run my sub-3 hour marathon, and there were far too many periods of injuries.
Of course there are good memories from the year. I did get to run the New York City Marathon, I was able to run 2018+ miles for 2018, I did place second at a couple of local races, and I was able to connect with a lot of runners in the community through the training groups I coach.
The pessimistic side of me is bummed, the optimistic side of me is thankful for the successes I did have, and the realist in me knows I did what I could with the cards that were dealt to me this year.
For fun, here’s a look at some running stats for this past year.
Total miles in 2018: 2077
For comparison:
2017: 2040
2016: 2031 miles –> inured for half of the year
2015: 2200 miles –> had an awesome year of training
2014: 1119 miles –> pregnant with Cullen February – October
2013: 2133 miles
2012: 2281 miles –> when I really started to take my training to a new level
2011: 1790 miles
2010: 1854 miles
Average daily miles: 5.7 miles
Average weekly miles: 40 miles
Highest weekly mileage: 75 miles
Longest training run: 23 miles
Places run: Anchorage, Alaska; Maui, Hawaii; Seattle, Washington; Waseca & White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Albany & New York, New York
Races run:
3/4/18 – Maui 5K (Maui, Hawaii) – 20:43
3/17/18 – Shamrock Shuffle 5K – 21:40
4/21/18 – Alaska Heart Run 5K (Anchorage, AK) – 19:04
6/1/18 – Twilight 12K (Anchorage, AK) – 49:19
7/15/18 – Hightail Quarter Marathon (Anchorage, AK) – 44:50
8/4/18 – Alaska Distance Classic 5K & 10K (Anchorage, AK) – 5K – 20:18, 10K – 43:20
8/19/18 – Skinny Raven Half Marathon (Anchorage, AK) – 1:29:51
9/9/18 – City of Lakes Half Marathon (Minneapolis, MN) – 1:29:41
10/13/18 – Zombie Half Marathon (Anchorage, AK) – 1:28:04
11/4/18 – New York City Marathon (New York, NY) – 3:05:52
11/28/18 – Turkey Trot 5K (Anchorage, AK) – 20:01
12/31/18 – Northern Lights Resolution Run (Anchorage, AK)
PRs: none
Coolest race: NYC Marathon
Favorite race: Hightail Half & Quarter Marathon
Biggest high: Honestly, I didn’t have a lot of high-highs, but I did enjoy my build-up to the NYC Marathon.
Biggest low: being injured again
Hardest workout: 17 mile run with 2 x 6 miles @ GMP (goal marathon pace = 6:50), 1 mile hard [average pace for workout was 7:00]
Favorite memory: running the NYC Marathon
Coldest run: 6*F (real feel of -3*F) – Anchorage, AK
Hottest run: 83*F (80% humidity) – Waseca, MN
Favorite training shoes: Adidas Solar Glide Boost
Favorite racing shoes: New Balance 1400
Pairs of running shoes I own: 17
My coach: self-coached this year
My assistant coach: my husband (Craig)
As we embark on 2019, I hope and pray that things will improve this next year, but it’s so hard to know exactly what will happen, so I will go in with a optimistic attitude but also know that life throws curve balls when you lease expect (plan!) for them.
The data nerd in me really loves this. I’ve kept a spreadsheet of my races going back 10+ years but I’ve not been as diligent about keeping my mileage and all of this other data recorded, aside from race placing and PR’s. I love it!! I’ll have to jot down a few of those categories for 2019 tracking. How do you track things like coldest temp? In a paper log or in a fitness app? I’d love to see a post on your data tracking!! I’m also coming back from an injury, (labrum tear, that’s how I found your blog) and I decided that moving forward, I’m going to count post-injury PR’s. I may never hit my old PR’s again, but I’ll be happy with new, pain free, PRing! PFPR’s? PIPR’s? Something like that. 🙂 Can’t wait to follow all that you do in 2019!
I wasn’t 100% sure what my coldest run was, but I looked back at my IG posts and found this one, so I may have run in something colder–but it went undocumented. I should probably just make a note in my log book for this winter’s temps. I keep the detailed notes for myself and a brief recap on Strava. So you can run some but not as much as you used to?
I enjoyed your stats and really relate to the optimistic/pessimistic/realistic ways to look at the year. I might have to steal some of these to add to my yearly re-cap! I was shocked that my coldest run was colder than yours (-1*, feels like -11*).
To be honest, I wasn’t 100% sure what my coldest run was, but I could “prove” this one with a Instagram post, so I went with it. You guys have temps with colder windchills, whereas here that doesn’t happen like it does in the Midwest.