End of Year Recap (2012)
December 27, 2012 29 Comments
2012 was a huge year. A complete game changer, no question. If I were to never run again after this year, I would say I went out with a bang. If I continue this “hobby” for decades to come, I will point to 2012 as the year in which I realized I was capable of more than I thought possible. Not only did I get faster, I became more confident, at times almost recklessly so. I broke through some significant barriers, pushed myself farther and reevaluated the idea of improvement.
It is for these reasons and several others that I will have to abandon any humility I may have as I write this post. Seriously, if self-congratulatory fist-pumping gives you an allergic reaction, stop reading now or go find an EpiPen because your throat is about to close up. In the words of a fellow blogger, I’m sorry I’m not sorry, but I am damn proud of what I have achieved this year. I put in a ton of time and sweat into training every single week without fail, dealing with everything from heavy snow to blistering heat. I cut back on beers (which is more than I can say for a close friend), kept the partying down at several birthdays, woke up too early over the summer and eliminated key staples of my diet like milk and peanut butter. In other words, I’d better have something to show for these meaningful lifestyle changes.
While not every accomplishment can be represented with numbers or drawings, that’s where I will start.
On geography alone, this was a crazy year. Thanks to miles hoarding, road tripping, doubling-up and a few perfectly timed airline deals, I was able to complete twelve states, nine of which I had never visited in my life: Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Minnesota, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Iowa, Oklahoma and Nevada.
Race Stats
Half Marathons Run: 11
Fastest: 1:30:47 (Kentucky Derby Festival miniMarathon, PR)
Slowest: 2:08:32 (Madison Montana Half Marathon)*
Average: 1:39:55*
*1:37:04 is the average if we remove the lung-killing Montana race at 9,000+ feet.
Marathons Run: 6
Fastest: 3:25:12 (IMT Des Moines Marathon, PR)
Slowest: 3:54:38 (Run Crazy Horse Marathon)
Average: 3:37:54
Top 3 Half Marathon Medals:
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Top 3 Marathon Medals:
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Worst Medal of 2012: It was actually a great year for medals. I can’t really find one that I truly dislike all that much. However, if I had to pick one, it would be Idaho Falls, whose generic and rusty design I forgave because of its tiny field, excellent organization and post-race food spread.
Number of fellow runners: 142,971
Biggest race: 34,301 (Shamrock Shuffle 8K)
Smallest race: 69 (Madison Montana Half Marathon)
Mileage Stats:
Miles Run: 1,366.6 (new record, previously held by 2011: 1,195 miles)
Average Pace: 7:53 (new record, previously held by 2010: 7:55)
Race Miles Run: 329.4 (new record, previously held by 2011: 266.8 miles)
Average Pace: 7:50 (new record, previously held by 2010: 7:52 miles)
So there you have it. I ran the most miles of any previous year, the most race miles, kept the fastest yearly pace and secured a PR at every single major race distance. I broke 20 minutes at the 5K three times, broke 41 minutes at the 10K, ran under 1:33 three times at the half marathon and broke 3:30 twice at the full distance. My average marathon finishing time of 3:37:54 was over three minutes faster than last year’s PR. I ran a record number of races (24) and finished a record number of states (12). I even managed two half marathons on consecutive days without serious consequences.
I also stopped being afraid of certain numbers. I no longer doubt myself when I see a sub-7 pace in a half marathon split. A sub-8 marathon split used to be a red flag, a sign that race myopia had taken over and that I’d soon regret it. Not so much anymore. Thanks to the lessons I learned in 2012, I have realized that it’s good to be aggressive sometimes, especially if the weather is perfect. I feel I owe it to myself to go as hard as possible, even if I think I’m exhausting my limits. Because of this attitude, I won my first age group award at the Oak Barrel Half Marathon. And then I won three more. I placed in the top 1% of finishers three times and earned a top 500 finisher in Indy.
But all these stats are meaningful only to one person: me. I honestly don’t expect anyone to analyze and digest them or derive any sort of real conclusion from them. Besides, everyone is different. A sub-elite marathoner would see my results and pat my head with a mix of encouragement and pity, like a Bengal tiger staring down at a fat, Manx cat. Similarly, there are those who consider me fast. To them I say, you can definitely catch up to me. It’s just a matter of gradual progress with a few spikes of reckless speed here and there. But regardless of whether these “other” people are faster or slower, they really are what make the sport fun for me.
Because I never run, I train. I prepare. Every single time I lace up and go outside or hit the treadmill, it’s in preparation for a race, which is like a training run except I die sooner, usually surrounded by others doing the same thing. On occasion, I see familiar faces because I’ve coerced them into running with me.
Here are 2012’s repeat offenders:
Otter (10 races, running hetero-lifemate status maintained)
Danielle / T-Rex (4)
Marla (4)
Greg (4)
Steve (3)
Nolan (2)
Regan (2)
Jeff (2)
Jim (2)
And therein lies the core of how awesome 2012 was. While it’s true that I enjoy running and traveling by themselves, no race trip is ever made worse with company. Not only did I get to run a ton of races with close friends, but I made new ones whose racing adventures will surely continue to overlap with mine. Much like last year, I got the chance to hang out with friends from bygone times (college, high school and even middle school) both on and off the course. I visited three enormous monuments (Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore and the Hoover Dam), played spectator at the best race in the world, ran two races under 20°F, one above 9,000 feet and wolfed down amazing post-run burgers at Flip (AL), Bluegrass Brewing Company (KY), Blue Door (MN), Zombie (IA), Holsteins (NV) and more.
Did I also mention that I got married this year, a huge spike in my yearlong endorphin high?
But though 2012 was a year to remember fondly, it ended with a foot injury that I’m currently nursing. Yes, I ran far too aggressively over the last three months without enough downtime or cross-training. At least I think that explains it. In fact, it shouldn’t surprise me at all that something happened, given how much additional work my feet and legs did this year, especially in the latter half. But the optimist in me says that this is just another lesson that has to be learned. Nobody’s invincible and even the meanest streak comes to an end.
In the words of a mighty wizard, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” As I continue to move forward in life, keeping close ties with old friends and meeting new people, I’m thrilled that I can do it all by doing what the human body does best: run. With every additional mile, I am reminded not only that I am fulfilling an evolutionary goal, but that happiness is a choice and not a consequence. Some people run because they feel they have to – to lose weight or to mitigate the effects of a greasy meal. I run because I want to, because I enjoy every step.
So can 2013 live up to these impossibly high standards? I hope so. I’m shifting focus away from speed and towards endurance, made most apparent by two races looming on the horizon: the Ice Age Trail 50k and the North Country Run 50-miler. Though I certainly want to recover quickly and get back into a regular pattern of training, my left foot isn’t letting me just yet. The Disney Marathon starts off 2013 in just under 3 weeks, which means I’m furiously rewriting my training regimen to keep fitness levels up without hurting myself further. Tune in on January 14 to see if that happened.
And on that note, I bid ye all a Happy New Year. May you achieve your goals, learn from your mistakes and keep pressing onwards with an insatiable desire to live. Because we must always remember that whatever we do in this sport, we do ourselves. Sometimes we receive encouragement from others and in certain instances we might get swept up in someone else’s training plan. But at the end of the day, what you do and the choices you make are yours. You plan, you prepare, you follow through and lastly, you learn.