2012 by the numbers! Holy cow!

I may as well do my end of the year review today, even though there is still 6 days left of 2012!  Why now, you ask? 
*sigh* 

My fitness goals have been sidelined until January 2nd due to a bout with Viral Meningitis!  What the, what????

Yep, after years and years of only getting minor illnesses like colds and such, I got hit with the double whammy of illness.  First a 3 day bout with pretty severe Strep Throat followed immediately after with viral meningitis that landed me in the hospital for 5 days.  For the sake of brevity, I'll leave out most of the details, but basically, though I'm feeling pretty well physically now and feel like I *could* run or do some other type of workout, I'm saddled with a picc line in my arm and have to do twice daily IV antibiotics till January 2nd.  I'm not allowed to get the dressings wet or sweaty, which means no workouts for me. 

The timing of these illnesses is incredibly poor.  I have been working on making my goal of 800 miles of running for the year, and am THISCLOSE to reaching it... and will not make it because of recent events.  How close was I? 

Running total for 2012:
782.7

SO frustrating.  My last run was a 6 miler on December 16th.  I would have easily crushed the 800 mile goal by 12/31.

Oh well, I have even bigger and better goals for 2013, and will go into more detail in my next blog post.  Let's look back at the stats for this year now, shall we?

Cycling
This was my first year of going out on my road bike.  I was super fearful and skeptical at first, as it just seemed scary to ride with others on a bike that seemed so fast!  I had no real "goals" related to cycling, but for fun, I set a goal of 500 miles for June-August.  Mostly though the goal was that I just wanted to go out on a long ride at least once a week this summer.  Now that Summer is long gone, I have been going to spin class at least once a week for crosstraining.  I DID end up meeting that 500 mile goal and then spin classes have continued to add to my total! 

Cycling total for 2012:
818.1 miles!

Best month:
June - 226.1 miles

Farthest ride:
June 24th- 53.8 miles

Running
Like I mentioned earlier, I had been working on an 800 mile goal... and came close.  It wasn't a goal I had set out early in the year, it was really only a goal that I've technically been working on since after the marathon.  I needed motivation to keep running even though I wasn't in training for something, so the 800 miles was just something I felt was achievable after looking at my numbers midway through October.  And even though I didn't technically reach 800, that was one of the few goals I DIDN'T make.  As it turns out, 2012 was a fantastic year for me!  Let's review!

Running total for 2012:
782.7

Average miles per week:
15

Best Months:
August- 112.4 miles
September- 107.5 miles

Best Weeks:
August 19th- 35.1 miles
September 9th- 35 miles

Races
I ran quite a few races this year.... and I got a PR in each and every race, with the only exception being the Filthy 5k at the end of September as it was a slippery mud race that took place one week before Twin Cities Marathon!  A recap:

3/16/12- St Patrick's Day 5k:  32:16 PR!
5/19/12- Fargo 1/2 Marathon:  2:28:59 PR!!
6/9/12- Lindenwood 10k:  1:06:13 PR!
7/19/12- Scheel's Run for the Red 5k:  30:26 PR!
9/1/12- Women Rock MN 1/2 Marathon:  2:18:51 PR!!!
9/29/12- Filthy 5k:  41:44
10/7/12- Twin Cities Marathon 5:17:46 PR (first full marathon!!!)
10/20/12- Fargo Mini Marathon (1/2 marathon):  2:14:09 PR!!!
11/3/12- Sandy's Donut Run 5k:  28:32 PR!!!!

Improvements since I started running in 2011:
Since I started running:
-Shaved 51 minutes off my 1/2 marathon time
-In Nov 2011, I ran a 5k in 36:49 (PR).  In Nov 2012, I ran a 5k in 28:32 (PR)- over 8 minute improvement!
-In 2011, my average pace for long runs was 13:30 or more.  In 2012, my average pace for long runs was 10:45-11:30
-In 2011, my average pace for short runs was 12:30 or more.  In 2012, my short runs were somewhere between 9:50-10:30
-In 2011, 4 miles felt like a long run.  In 2012, 5 miles felt like a short easy run.
-When I started running In January 2011, my weight was 180 and I wore a size 14.  At the peak of my marathon training in October, I was 150 lbs and wore between a size 6 and 8.  (I'm up about 5 lbs since the marathon due to holidays, etc).


So there you have it!  Apparently if you keep at it, you keep getting better!  2012 was a GREAT year for me!  I have run this year totally injury free, and the only hiccup took place in the past couple of weeks with my stupid illnesses. 

Hope everybody has a GREAT rest of the holiday season and I will post soon about next year's goals! 

a return to Spring!

Oh hiiiiii there!

Remember when it was wintry for a minute?  And remember when we were all like "wahhhhh SNOW!"

And then suddenly, it was as if we time warped right past Winter and jumped right into March.

And oh, I love March.  I love March fiercely.  So on Saturday in the 46 degree sunshine, I ran a spectacular 8 mile with my friend Michele.  For the 90 minutes we were out splashing in the melty puddles, I pretended it was mid-March.  I pretended that we were out on a training run for a Spring race.  I thought about grilling and iced coffee and driving with windows down.

Call it losing touch with reality if you must, but oh it was a wonderful 90 minute vacation in my brain.  It was a nice break from treadmill running and all the joysuck that entails.

And the following day was beautiful as well.  And so was today.  And really, the 10 day forecast calls for cooler temps, but NO snow!  And it's December!!

Now, I know it's coming.  I know that we won't have another super mild winter like last year.  I know that I'm going run on the 'mill or freeze my bunsies off in the frigid Winter air.  But for now, it's nice to pretend!

Other running updates and fun little tidbits:
At the end of October, I looked at my running stats for 2012 and realized that I could probably hit 800 miles of running for the year, so that's been a new goal that I've been working on.  I have about 40 miles left to run by month's end to reach goal.  NO problem.  Why?

Because I'm doing the "Holiday Running Streak!"  I read about this in a Runners World article and thought it would be a good way to keep motivated and moving over the super fattening holiday season.  Run or walk at least 1 mile a day between Thanksgiving and New Years.  So far, so good!

Last week I clocked my FASTEST EVER one mile runs!  8:03 followed by a 7:47 the next day.  Holy cow.  I thought my treadmill was going to explode into a zillion pieces.  I thought my heart might do the same.

Speaking of treadmills... our warranty expired a few weeks ago.  About 2 weeks ago I started running on it more regularly again.  And then I noticed the belt started doing some weird slipping thing.  Of course.  Lucky lucky for us, someone suggested we call Sears and see if we can still take them up on an extended warranty.  Yay!  They said yes.  $69 to renew the warranty and now we have someone coming out this weekend to fix er up.  Without warranty, that would have likely cost us $400 for a house call.

Speaking of boobs.  Oh, we weren't speaking of that.  But speaking of it NOW- total wardrobe malfunction during my Springtime Saturday run.  One second, the sisters were safe  and secure in their super supportive home and the next second BAM!  Explosion!  Front zippered sports bra somehow came unzipped somewhere around mile 3.  Whattheheck??  Almost ALMOST flashed some fisherguy who was hanging down by the river.  Luckily I think I rezipped quickly enough to get things back under wraps.  Whew.

So... with that piece of over-sharing.... I think we'll call this one done for the night!