Quite a year…

Wow.  In terms of running, 2010 has been an overwhelming success.

Over 1500 miles run!!
That is a 50% increase over 2009.  I ran 1017 last year and will end this year with 500 miles more than that.  I hit 1500 miles yesterday on my run.  I stand at 1504 with three days left.  Holy cow!  At the beginning of the year, I had hoped to hit 1200 this year.  I definitely exceeded my expectations, especially since my mileage has dropped quite a bit in the last couple of months.

9 months run over 100 miles*
With the exception of February, March and April, my mileage total for every month was over 100 miles.  My highest month was 175 (my lifetime PR).  In 2009, my highest month was 153, but I had one month where I only ran 27 miles.  Things have come a long way since I started running in 2008, when I didn’t even keep track of my mileage.

24 races raced!
This number surprised me.  Even on a budget, I was able to run a LOT of races this year.  I spent Christmas and birthday money on entry fees.  I was also able to run seven races for free.

At least one race per month
I thought that I wanted to do that, but never thought I would (or could).  It definitely wasn’t by design.  When I saw a race that I wanted to run and could afford to run it, I did.  I ran the OC Chili Trail Race Series in February, March and April.  If it weren’t for the fact that I wanted to run all three, I wouldn’t have raced in April at all.  The races I ran in August, September and October (and one in November) were all free for one reason or another.**

3 marathons
I ran my best marathon, my most disappointing marathon and my most fun marathon all in 2010.  It goes to show how different each one can be.

8 half marathons (5 half marathons and 3 trail races over 21K)
I officially qualify for Half Fanatics.  I haven’t joined yet, since I am waiting for my budget to allow for things like that.  My best half marathon streak is four in thirty days.  I am proud to say that I ran three of them comfortably under two hours.  The first one was a very difficult trail race where my time was not my goal.  The last in the streak happens to be my PR of 1:47:06

7 trail races
I ran my first trail race in February of this year.  It was a five mile race and I fell in love with it.  I had run on the trails and loved it.  Trail races made me a bit nervous, but after a couple, I looked forward to them.  In fact, I really hope to run a trail marathon or 50K this year.
3 10Ks
One of them was the Camp Pendleton Mud Run and the other two I PR’d in!  I don’t particularly like 10K’s, but they make a great “tempo” run.

5 5Ks
I only ran one of these for a PR. Two of them were with my sister-in-law, helping her pace her race.  One was the LA Mud Run and the last one was the Gladiator Run. 

PRs in almost every distance
5k—24:19
10K—50:00
15K—1:18:07
Half Marathon—1:47:06
Marathon—3:57:17

In terms of my life in general, it has been my most difficult year.  Thank goodness for my running and the success I have seen there, as well as the friends I have made along the way.  By far, the highlight of my year (running and otherwise) has been the friends I have made because of my running.  I am looking forward to a better 2011.  I hope to continue to see improvement in my running.  But even more, I hope to continue running with and helping my friends reach their goals.  Maybe I will even train a paying client next year.  We’ll see what life brings me….

I hope you all have a happy new year.  Happy Trails.  Happy Running…


*January 133 (peaking for Surf City)
February 60 (ran Surf City Marathon on February 6 and then took some time off, only running on the weekends for a couple of weeks)
March 87
April 82
May 145 (started training for Long Beach in earnest and ran three half marathons)
June 133 (I ran a race every week this month)
July 167
August 171
September 175
October 126 (ran Long Beach Marathon without taking much time off afterwards)
November 126
December 99 (so far…but I still plan on two more runs before the end of the year.  It will probably be my lowest mileage month since April)


*I love my friends and family!   I paced friends/family in four events, was able to get a free entry from a friend of a friend, ran for team Jamba Juice for another and volunteered at a race to get another free entry.