The year started off with lofty goals of running up to ten races and reaching a mileage goal of 1000miles...I came close to the thousand miles, finishing with 903.8...besting my high set in 2007 by 150 miles...so although I came up short of the thousand I was looking for, I am happy about breaking 900m...I know what to do in 2009 to make up those 96.2 miles!
I improved in my consistency this year...February was a slow month, but the winter months are always slow for me in terms of running...I had to take a week off in March after having wisdom teeth extracted...I had another lull in summer while on my beach vacation...too much sand and beer to enjoy...September and October were Prime Time months for me...easily topped 100 miles in each month...and then I shut down serious running when November rolled around...only doing easy three milers for most of the last six weeks of the year...
Hard to explain why...no specific reason...maybe just tired from the grind...I didn't have the gumption to do any races this year...except for the Jug Bay 5K which I ran with my daughter Hannah...I was just content to run the trails at Jug Bay, and less frequently the mean streets of my neighborhood, Mutual Estates in bucolic Port Republic...I enjoyed the solitude I was experiencing on the way to my 1000 miles...good times...
But maybe the lack of races doomed me to fall justthisshy of my goal....perhaps I needed the prospect of a race or two to bump the training mileage up a bit...
All things considered though I can say I am enjoying my love affair with running the trailways...no seven year itch for me...it will be seven years come 2009 since my first marathon coincidentally...running continues to inspire and perspire me...
some other '08 highlights were running in that thunderstorm/squall in mid-June at Jug Bay the trees were swaying quite violently and water was coming down horizontally...only lasted for 15 minutes but conditions were whack! then there was the day of the floods in May when I couldn't even make it to the park after work because of the rain...the lone weed smoker on the trails in November...running at the same time a HS cross-country meet was underway...I wasn't in the way...the refurbished trail sections at Jug Bay...sweet...discovering new trail sections from time to time...I can always create new routes to run...
So it's on to a new year, new goals, and new running adventures!
