So Long 2012!

Last Race of the Year - First Race back from Injury

Race: Fairfax 4 Miler
Net Time: 24:32.0
Date: December 31st, 2012

My last race of 2012 went on pretty much as planned.  I have been doing the The Fairfax 4 Miler for the past few years, starting when I lived in Fairfax.  Though I am now in Arlington its nice to come out for a race and catch up with my old Fun Run crew every now and then.  This was my first race since coming back from injury and although I can't say I felt 100% myself, its safe to say the injury is healed.  This certainly isn't to say my fitness is back to where it should be, but after 6 weeks off, and only 4 weeks back of mostly easy running I felt pretty strong during the race.  I also weigh close to 10 pounds more than a year ago, which will cost you in terms of speed, but I got bored when I couldn't run and thats what all that weight lifting gets you!

The race panned out like this: the first mile was just getting used to a race pace, which felt weird after all the time off.  Got out of the gates as planned, but felt like I was running too fast and didn't want to burn out, first mile was about 6:15.  It was also on a gradual uphill, then as the road leveled out I was able to get into more of a groove of I'm guessing 6:08ish miles.  We had another couple hills (and descents) around the 3.5 mile mark.  Coming up on the final mile I felt strong starting to catch up with some of the whipper-snappers who passed me earlier.  In the final 1000 meters I had a strong kick and passed 5 or 6 people, running that mile in probably around the 5:50s.  As great as racing felt, I was actually a bit sore the next day after only 4 miles.

Though the race went well, I still finished 15 seconds slower than it took me the previous year.  This is to be expected after all that time off, but still disappointing after all the miles I ran in 2012.  Somehow I managed to place 3rd in my age group, despite finishing over a minute behind 2nd place in my 20-29 year old age category. Not too shabby!

Not my best effort, but 3rd place in my
 age group.  I'll take it!

Speaking of miles ran in 2012, I went through all my spreadsheets (yes - I keep detailed mileage logs and spreadsheets of all my training), added everything up, and found the grand total to be over 1,900 miles run in 2012.  My goal was to run 2,012 miles in 2012, but considering the time off for injuries I was elated to see over 1,900 miles in the books! Far more than any other year to do.

So what are my goals for 2013?  I should have a post coming up about that soon enough, but in short I want to set a 10k PR, continue getting into Ultras (50k's and 50 milers), and I would like to match or exceed the year in miles - at least 2,013 miles in 2013!