2012 Annual Summary

Even with an odd injury in November which resulted in less than 25 miles of running in November and December, 2012 was still a great year pounding the road.

Annual total was 1,003 miles in 142 hours (5.9 days) of running time and included competing in 16 sanctioned events. It included a lot of mileage on trails as I got off the pavement and completed three trail races, including finishing in the top 10 of the North Face Endurance half marathon. I also put in 481 miles in the saddle of my bicycle and completed an olympic duathlon.

Meb Motivation

Happily Overdid It

Wife and baby left me alone this morning to go a new mom group, so like a kid who eats candy for breakfast while his parents are away, I gorged myself on a two hour brick of running and cycling. During the run I hit my 1,000th mile of running in 2012. My calf was still tweaked, and I managed to overdo it and tweak my knee as well...but darn that was bliss.

And my performance was surprisingly decent considering my daily four hours of scattered sleep.

But I need to seriously take a few weeks off to fully heal from my overzealous 2012.

The Birth of My Biggest Fan

At 7:04pm on 12/12/12, we welcomed our first child, and my future biggest fan and running partner (I hope), at 7 lbs 5 oz and 20" long.

I'll no doubt be taking a bunch of time off and squander my 2012 base mileage, but you know what...totally worth it.

Race Report: Jingle All the Way 8k

Have a lot going on getting ready for the arrival of our first child, so this will be a very brief report.

Race Day

Though I continue to be out of race shape due to my calf and taking it easy, I decided I had to run a final race before my impending fatherhood. So it was off to downtown DC this morning for a rainy Jingle All the Way 8k.

I still harbor a bit of dislike for the 8-10k distances. Maybe I need more practice, but in my experience and my race style they're just too long to go all out and too short for me to get in a really good pace groove. This morning I wasn't expecting too much, but found myself with a fast group and stuck with it. I finished ahead of my goal, didn't have too much pain after warming up, so I'll take that result and roll into the Christmas season with a smile.

The Results

8k :   32:24  |  6:31/mile

Awesome picture from Swim Bike Run Photography with the Capitol Dome behind me.