It's A Wrap 2012

I need to preface my 2012 wrap-up with how I got to this point in my running journey.  

2011 was sort of an experimental year with running for me.  

I started this running journey at the very end of 2010 as a challenge from my daughter to run a half marathon with her in 2011. 
So I started running.  
I learned a lot throughout 2011 and wasn't sure exactly what this old body of mine could do. 
I ran my first half marathon that Summer of 2011 and decided to try a second one.  
I thought 2 half marathons in one Summer was just pure insanity.  
I thought I would hurt something in the process and was scared to sign up for a second race. 
I decided to go for it though.  I ran it and survived and from then on became instantly "hooked".  
I read everything I could get my hands on about running and soon discovered a whole new world. 
I subscribed to Runner's World.  
I checked out every thing that looked interesting to read about running from the library.  
I started signing up for more races.  
I started making new friends in the running world and knew there was no going back.  
This was just way too fun and I knew I wanted to continue to be a part of this. 
At the end of 2011 I was ready for some new goals and challenges.  
I wanted them to be lofty yet not unreachable.  And so now on to how my year of 2012 went down:

 

Looking back at 2012

*Goal #1 was to run at least one race a month for the whole year resulting in 12 races for 2012.

This goal seemed a little scary after only running 2 half marathons in 2011 but I was up for the challenge.
I gave myself a little bit of a leeway by not attaching a distance to those races.
Well.....the result?  31 Races with the breakdown of those distances as follows from
shortest to longest:
     *1-2.9 Virtual Race for Leap Year

     *2-5K's
     *3-10K's
     *19-Half Marathons
     *1-15 Mile Trail Run
     *2 Marathons-1 road and 1 trail
     *2-50K's
     *1-46 Mile Birthday run/walk

*Goal #2 was to run at least 60 miles a month for a distance total of the year being 720 miles.
     January 76 miles
     February 88.5 miles
     March 86.5 miles
     April 60.5 miles
     May 77 miles
     June 100.75 miles
     July 117 miles
     August  175.75 miles
     September 123 miles
     October 73 miles
     November 69.5 miles
     December 99 miles
For a grand total of mileage in 2012 of 1146.5 Miles

*Goal #3 happened later in the year and that was a holiday challenge that Runner's World put out to run at least 1 mile everyday from Thanksgiving to the end of the year. (Except Sundays for me) The idea of this goal was to keep the holiday pounds from creeping in.  It was a great idea and I jumped on it.  I think it worked.  I'm just a big chicken though to step on a scale.  I did do the running faithfully every day though.

 
I love goals and I love challenges.  If I decide to do something and I have accountability to someone or something (this blog) then by darn it's going to happen.  I have a very driven personality and I like to push myself to see what I can accomplish.

Now with 2013 here I have lofty dreams and goals still but I'm a bit nervous to share them.  Not because I don't think I can attain them, I'm just not quite sure how yet, and I'm not certain that 2013 is the year to set such high goals.  I'm still learning about this running adventure and feel like I have much to learn.

For now I'd like to just set the goal of at least matching what I did in 2012 and trying to surpass it a little bit in the coming year.  I'd like to try a few new races along with running a lot of the same ones I did in 2012. I also want to run a few more trail marathons and half marathons and possibly a couple of 50K's again.  I'd also like to get in better shape in 2013 and attempt beating my half marathon times by a few minutes.  I know that doesn't seem that challenging but when you're out there putting your whole heart and soul into a run a few minutes will be tough.

The goal of getting into better shape means lifting weights and cross training more.  I plan to do a lot of racquetball playing with my good friend Annaleesa and I plan to get to the gym for weight lifting.  I also plan to implement a better eating regiment and will be making my blog my go to spot for ACCOUNTABILITY.  I'm still working on the logistics of exactly how I will be doing that.  Possibly a completely different blog so as not to interfere with this one.

HERE WE GO 2013 I AM READY FOR THE RIDE!