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.

Motivation Lost

Without the marathon to train for, my motivation has disappeared.  I should have gone out for a run every day this week, but haven't managed once.  I know that running would be good for me mentally. The two races I have run the past two weekends have been wonderfully therapeutic.  They were fun.  I needed them.

I mentioned briefly in a previous post that I have recently felt victimized and out of control.  Several weeks ago it became clear that my husband's wonderful job that we picked up and moved here for wasn't working out. Once again, this economy was biting us in the ass.

So my husband is busting his hump finding consulting or full time work and I am looking for a full time job.  My dream of starting my own running/fitness/lifestyle business will have to be put on hold. Being out of the job market for a while has left me feeling a little less confident.

Going through this, yet again, so soon is demoralizing, frustrating and depressing.  You are taught that if you work hard and strive to always do the right thing, good things will happen to you.  I find myself falling into the "why me" trap.  That is not my style.  I usually like to take things head on. However, lately I have been feeling sorry for myself.  For crying out loud, when is it OUR turn? 

I am sure all this stress is a big factor in my lack of motivation.  Another factor is the lack of races on my calendar.  I was going to run the Catalina marathon next month, but the logistics are just too much right now.  Between the boat ride over, the hotel stay and meals, it not only gets expensive but a little lonely. My husband would have gone with me, but Catalina is where we go to celebrate and he didn't have the heart for it.  My girlfriend is running her first marathon anxious wanted to be there with her.  But her husband will be there and I don't want to be a third wheel.

This week I took a temporary job to earn some extra money. It is quite possibly the most boring job I have ever done.  But it is also completely stress free. So it is easy money.  It is my first time working in almost four years where I wasn't wearing workout gear.  That is another thing affecting my running this week.  It is a lot easier to get two kids ready for school when I don't have to make my lunch, shower, blow dry my hair, put makeup on, and find professional attire that still fits me.  I'm sure once I do this a while, I'll get in more of a groove. For now, adding an hour of running in there is too much.

So now I go between feeling guilty and feeling sad for missing this week's runs. I am sure I'll run this weekend, so that should make up for it.   In fact, I am really looking forward to running this weekend.  Hopefully, it will help ground me a little, put things back into perspective and get the "poor me's" out of my system.

I apologize if some of these posts lately have been a little more dark.  Sometimes this blog is as much therapy as it is a journal of my running.  I will hopefully post more upbeat and inspiring things soon.

Happy Running.