Welcome, 2009!

Happy New Year to everyone!

2008 Running Recap:

I spent my last run of 2008 with some new friends which is a great way to finish up the year.  Yay!  I'm looking forward to more of the same in the future.

I closed off the year with 1102 miles run.  This is way off my initial goal of 1500 but I can thank some sprained ankles and shin splints for that.  

You can see the glorious dip in Aug/Sept from my crunched shin and the slow recovery of mileage ever since.  The dip in March/April reflects a little bit of laziness post-two marathons in 6 weeks and also letting my sprained ankle heal (which I continued training on, and ran those two marathons on).  I finished three half marathons in 7 weeks while I had shin splints.  I do not recommend this to anyone.  Reading this now, I believe this whole paragraph highlights that I was a bit of a hardheaded stupid runner this year.

I set a marathon PR this year of 4:35 six weeks after completing the Goofy Challenge.  With my various injuries I wasn't able to attempt to break two hours in the half this year as I had planned.

I bought a bike and decided to complete a triathlon this year.  I swam a continuous mile for the second time in my life while training for the tri.  I also decided I am probably not destined to be either a cyclist, triathlete or open water swimmer.  Deep inside I am just a runner.

I got a running skirt this year.  And then I got addicted.  I haven't run in shorts since July, I think.

I started this blog and have had so much fun connecting with other runners & rabbit owners.  I was a longtime blog reader/lurker and it's so much more fun to have "conversations" with people.

Looking to 2009:

I mentioned before that I didn't think ambitious mileage goals were good for me.  I didn't learn my lesson and decided to set a more conservative goal for 2009.  So I'm aiming for 1300 miles this year.  Basically the goal is to keep my running consistent through the year.  This is by no means an "A-goal" and I am going to abandon it if I feel I'm running through pain.  So really this is a fancy way of saying I hope 2009 is an injury-free, run consistent year!

I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to try to PR in the marathon this year.  I am tinkering with the idea of doing CIM in December in which case I will.  Otherwise, the races I am looking at are more enjoy-the-roses type courses.  I am definitely hoping to PR in the half this year.  I signed up for the San Jose Half again before I had even run it this year.  So right now that will be the target half PR attempt race.

I didn't get out for a run yesterday to start off the new year.  I was hoping to do 7 miles today.   I woke up this morning and it was raining.  I've had a little bit of a cold since Saturday.  It was never really that bad and I've been on the mend since Monday.  But this morning I felt a little more congested than I had been the last two days.  I gave myself permission to cut back the run to 5 miles.  But I did pack enough tunes and fuel for 7 miles just in case.  Once I got going I decided pretty early on to go for at least 6 miles.  By about the halfway point I decided to just do 7.  I felt a little out of breath on some of the hills but overall it was not bad.  So 7.1 miles today to start off 2009!

Oh, and I finally got Mario's Christmas present today!  I'll try to get some pictures and will post them Monday.  I was just about to take down the tree yesterday but remembered I had to wait for him to have his photo-op.